Savior From My Lonesome Self
by Flying By Wire
Summary: When a tragedy occurs in the life of Teirra Misaki, she is forced to not only change schools, but towns as well. Lost and alone, she meets somenone who becomes her savior from her lonesome self. SoraxOC    Rated T for language Complete!
1. A Fresh Start

**Ok, so this is my very first story, ever. I originally made it to get over something...well...personal. Don't ask. I apologize to those who will think it's too short, completely terrible, etc. I also have about 14 chapters pre-written so I'll update every week.**

**This chapter, in my opinion, is pretty terrible, but it'll get better later when things start to kick in and stuff, whatever the phrase is. With that, I hope you enjoy.**

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**A Fresh Start**

"Hey, isn't that the girl?"

"From the police reports? Yeah I think so."

"Poor thing, and she's still so young too."

The two voices came from a man and woman wearing police uniforms, looking pitifully at said girl. According to the reports, she was 16 years old. She had dark brown eyes and brown hair to match, although her hair had a bit of a red tint to it as well. She was a petite girl, her slender figure still visible even though she wore a dark jacket that seemed a little too big for her and also around her neck was a blue heart necklace on a gold colored chain. She also wore dark blue jeans and had red and black checkered vans.

She was the daughter of a wealthy family that lived in Twilight Town, as for why she was in Destiny Islands instead, well there's a story to that.

"Teirra Misaki, daughter of Ryou and Kuroi Misaki. Wealthy family, from Twilight Town, blah blah blah, says here a week ago at their home someone broke in and attempted to murder the whole family, killed her parents right in front of her, she was saved when the cops came and the killer escaped... and is still looking for her as we speak." said the aged officer with more pity in his voice.

As the two police were talking, the chief came up to them and they saluted, she waved off their salute. "We have to keep Ms. Misaki off that murderer's trail, he'll be looking for her all over." She said sternly.

"But how do we do that? He's going to look all over Twilight Town and beyond that in no time." The woman said fearfully.

"That's why we brought her to Destiny Islands, it's the least expected place for her to be, no relatives, no other contacts. When he's done searching Twilight Town he'll start looking into wealthy schools and her other relatives. So she'll have to attend a normal school here so as not to attract attention. Destiny High School, we'll keep her under surveillance in a home we've set up for two officers plus herself to be staying in, and she'll starts school tomorrow morning."

"Who sir?" the man asked curiously.

As if on cue two officers entered, not in their uniforms, but in normal attire. One was a young man with dark brown hair and wore a white v-neck with a black short sleeve jacket and had dark skinny jeans with dark shoes. Around his neck was a silver lion necklace of some sort.

Next to him was a young woman with pink hair that flowed down her left shoulder, she wore a necklace that looked somewhat like a lightning bolt and wore a light blue shirt with a gray-ish flannel on top with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She also wore khaki shorts and light brown boots that went up to her knees.

The chief walked over to the two and looked from the boy to the girl. "Squall Leonhart, Lightning Farron. " She turned toward Teirra and she looked up at the chief. "These two are officially assigned as your bodyguards. Listen to everything they tell you, and you'll also be starting at Destiny High tomorrow."

The girl merely nodded, she had bags under her eyes and they looked slightly puffy, it must've been from crying and lack of sleep. The chief couldn't look at her anymore, she walked away toward more work and simply dismissed the three.

Teirra stood up and walked over to her new bodyguards and they looked down at her. She looked like her whole world had suddenly caved in, like she lost everything. Squall took her by the arm and guided her out along with Lightning, seeing as they had no reason to stay.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of you." He said encouragingly, hoping to cheer her up a little. Obviously it didn't work since she just nodded and kept that emotionless look on her face as they got in the car and drove away.

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><p>When the three arrived at their destination, they found the home to be a little bigger than they were told.<p>

It had two floors for one, the upstairs was small though, only a bedroom and a bathroom in a small hallway. The downstairs area had a decent sized ling room and kitchen with two bedrooms and another bathroom in a hallway leading from the kitchen. At the end of the hallway was a large room that could be used for probably anything and there a door connected to the backyard from there.

Squall and Lightning brought their bags into the rooms down the hall and Teirra went upstairs to the only room left; her new bedroom. It had light blue walls and a bed in one corner and a window next to it with a nightstand and dresser with a mirror across from each other. The nightstand being next to the bed and the dresser being next to the closet.

Shortly after unpacking, she sat on the edge of her bed, eventually lying down.

"A new home, new school, no friends, no family... just alone." Her voice came out soft as if she'd barely used it, she frowned and within minutes fell into another of her newly acquired restless sleeps.

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><p><strong>1 week later<strong>

Destiny High wasn't that bad of a school, Teirra's parents always said that normal schools weren't nearly as nice as her own, but they were off by a long shot. The only problem was that when she'd be in her classes or walk in the hallways she'd get stared at for her appearance and from any rumors that may have been going around about the incident.

No one ever talked to her, not like she'd talk back anyway.

She was currently in math class, the last class of the day, and the teacher was doing roll call at the end of class as usual. A few names were called, hers was coming up.

"Teirra Misaki." He always said her name quieter out of nervousness or something, she wasn't sure but she raised her hand anyway. "Sora Hikari, Roxas Hikari." He said and the two raised their hands.

Sora and Roxas were brothers, obviously, Sora is the goofy type, while Roxas is the more calm type.

Sora had a spiky mess of brown hair and brilliant blue eyes, like the sky, he wore a tan v-neck with dark jeans and black converse.

Roxas had eyes like Sora, except he had blonde hair that spiked mostly on one side, he wore some sort of X shaped necklace and wore a blue t-shirt under a short sleeve gray jacket and wore light brown cargo pants with black and white checkered vans.

"Riku Noire." Said boy raised his hand, Riku was the cool type, but could occasionally lose his temper. He had long, silver hair that seemed to spike out at its ends and had bright, turquoise eyes. He wore a black v-neck with a white and yellow vest with the yellow collar folded down and wore dark and baggy jeans with dark blue colored vans.

"Kairi Forgrove, Namine Forgrove." The sisters raised their hands as well, both Kairi and Namine also had blue eyes like Sora and Roxas.

Kairi is the girl who seemed to obsess over the latest trends, while Namine, like Teirra, is the artistic type. She was in Teirra's art class, she even commented on her drawings once and said they were nice.

Kairi had auburn colored hair that went half way down her back and her bangs went off to the right, almost covering her eye, her eyes were a bright, blue-violet. A pearl necklace around her neck and a pink dress and black flats. The dress fit her curves and she had a black hair band in her hair.

Namine had pale blonde hair that also ran half way down her back and over her right shoulder and the same vibrant eyes as Kairi, she wore a white dress that came to her knees and had a white hair band and wore light brown boots that went half way to her knees.

Later other people were called, Teirra never caught their names, unfortunately.

She felt someone staring at her and she looked up from her sketchbook to find none other than Sora now right in front of her, startling her. She jumped out of her seat.

"Sorry about that, you just looked to concentrated and all, I wanted to see what you were working on." He said and smiled apologetically. She merely nodded in understanding and sat back down.

Sora then pointed to her sketchbook, giving her a look that said "May I?", Teirra nodded and he turned the book towards himself..

The sketch was of a girl with a distant look on her face, sitting atop a clock tower and looking out into the sunset, although something about it gave him the idea that it wasn't meant to have a positive meaning. "It looks nice." he said as he gave the sketchbook back to her and she nodded in thanks.

Sora frowned at this, why didn't she talk? Was she a mute or something? He heard about the killings, but he didn't know it was her family that were the victims.

"You don't talk much do you?" he asked and she bowed her head as if apologizing. "Oh no, I don't mean it's a bad thing, I just thought, you know... it'd be nice to hear your voice every now and then." He smiled at her and she opened her mouth, just as the bell rang and Sora stood up.

"Sorry, I gotta go, see you tomorrow Teirra." He smiled again and ran out of the room with his brother. "And think about what I said okay!" He yelled when he was out of sight. Teirra just stared at the open door in confusion.

What just happened?

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><p>"So Sora, how come you were talking to the new girl?" Roxas asked his twin and smirked as if seeing some deeper meaning to Sora's encounter with said new girl.<p>

"She just looked lonely, that's all. No one ever talks to her. So I figured I should instead, she doesn't talk much though, at all actually." Sora said with a puzzled look on his face.

"No surprise there." Namine said sadly from Roxas' side, yes, her and Roxas were dating. Just like Kairi is with Riku, they had to go somewhere else today so they weren't with the small group of friends.

"What do you mean by that?" Sora asked, oblivious, the two stared at him. "You mean you don't know?" The couple asked in unison.

"Know what?" Sora asked, annoyed.

"She's the one whose parents got killed in Twilight Town two weeks ago." Said Namine with the most serious face Sora had ever seen.

He was shocked to say the least, he froze in his tracks, it's her?

She's the one who lost them?

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><p><strong>I hope it wasn't too bad, let me know what you guys think. Again, first chapter ever, first story ever.<strong>


	2. Sounds Good

**Okay, so I felt like updating now because I really didn't have anything else to do. Other than uploading stuff on my new DA account. Yaay I didn't think I'd ever get one. **

**Anyway, on with chapter 2! I own nothing, except Teirra really.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**Sounds Good**

Teirra awoke to the ever so irritating alarm she had set on her phone every morning. The alarm was a recording of her parents yelling "Wake up!" as loud as they could, laughing. Teirra listened to it once more before sighing sadly and turning it off. She really had to change that alarm.

She stood from her small bed and changed out of her pajamas and took a shower, later drying off and changing into her outfit for the day. She put on her heart necklace and brushed her teeth and hair and went downstairs to find Lightning and Squall already awake and ready for the day.

Lightning was eating a small waffle that she had put in the newly acquired toaster and Squall was simply reading the newspaper, they both waved and said "good morning" when they saw Teirra walk in.

She put bread in the toaster and put her books in her bag for the day while she waited for her toast when Lightning looked up at her.

"How's school here going?" She asked.

Teirra thought about it for a second, she decided to leave the part about Sora out. "It's been okay I guess..it is school after all." She said plainly, the bodyguards have been following her from a distance to school, then they'd leave and do the same after school. They didn't think anything would happen while she was there, they've also been trying to get her to open up more by asking random questions to get her talking. They've gotten used to her being a hopefully temporary 'girl of few words.'

Her toast was done and she quickly ate it before tying her shoes and walking out the door. "See you later." She sounded almost like a robot when she spoke and then she left.

Squall watched the girl leave and shut the door. According to her relatives she was a very kind and cheerful girl, always bursting with energy. But after the incident with her parents, no one thought she'd be the same way again.

_Hopefully someone can change that soon._ He thought.

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><p>It was now history, the second class of the day and Sora and Teirra happened to have that class together as well. They had at least four classes together, plus their lunch break too.<p>

Sora was watching the ever silent girl work on her vocabulary for the chapter in their history book with an unreadable expression. He didn't know how to talk to her after finding out about her situation, he felt bad about being all happy and carefree and not even asking if she was okay.

He didn't realize he had been staring at her for so long because before he knew it she had finished her work and the bell rang for their next class. He got up to leave, but before he walked out he turned to see Teirra looking in his direction. He scratched his head slightly and left before she could reach him.

She stared at the place where the brunette once was before sighing and walking to her next class; which was art.

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><p>"Namine...,"<p>

"Huh? Yes?"

"Does Sora... hate me?"

Teirra sat next to Namine in their art class, occasionally she could get some words out of her but today seemed to be different from those times. Namine stared at her in confusion before smiling and answering.

"There's no way he could hate you. One, he has no reason to. And two, I don't think he's even capable of hating someone. Why do you ask?"

She paused. "Well... a few days ago he talked to me a little. But now when he sees me he runs off." Her voice was very soft for she felt kind of awkward telling this to someone she'd only known for a week or so.

Namine listened to her closely, _It must be because he knows now. _She thought, she'd hoped he wouldn't let this stop him from helping her but he must be confused as to what he should do.

"Hmm... I'm not sure what's up with him. Maybe he wants you to come to him this time, he wanted to hear your voice right? So talk to him and set it straight." She pretended not to know, she felt bad about lying and she felt bad enough about telling someone about somebody else's problems. Teirra seemed to believe her and nodded in understanding. "Okay... I guess I could try that."

Suddenly their teacher stood up in the front of the class, she was shorter than Teirra and had short brown hair and wore a short blue dress with brown boots.

"Ok class! This week is a group project, so get a partner. The media is conte, blending chalk, and the theme is dreams and imagination. Let's get started!" She yelled and clapped her hands, symbolizing she was finished. Students all around found their partners and Namine and Teirra decided they could be partners.

"Dreams and imagination, huh? This'll be easy! So Teirra, what comes to mind for you?" She asked, Teirra put her hand to her chin and pondered.

"A girl... in a bird cage." She said finally.

"Oh.. hm.. how about we draw the girl in the cage with a boy trying to get her out of it? It'll be fun!" Said Namine happily, being an artist herself, she knows how to show the meanings behind drawings and how to interpret other drawings herself.

"Okay. Sounds good." She said and they began their first project together.

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><p>The bell rang again and they went through all their classes except for their last, which they had together, now it was their lunch break, Sora, Roxas, Namine, Riku, Kairi, and more of their friends all sat at one large table. Namine asked Teirra if she wanted to sit with them and maybe talk to Sora, but she said she didn't want to until she got to know them all better, so she sat at the table next to theirs, the next best thing.<p>

Despite talking with Namine sometimes, Teirra didn't seem to feel comfortable talking to the others just yet. According to Namine the reason Teirra only talks to her is because "It's an artist thing, you wouldn't understand."

Sora would occasionally catch a glance from Teirra when she would look in his direction but she'd appear to get nervous and quickly turn away, same goes for Sora vice versa.

"Hey Teirra, how does this look for this part?" Namine showed her a small sketch of the boy who was going to break the girl out of the cage, Teirra noticed something and looked at Sora and at the drawing and back to Namine and she smiled as if reading her mind.

It looked just like Sora.

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><p>"Ms. Misaki, I'm going to change your seat. You'll be sitting in the empty seat in between Sora Hikari and Namine Forgrove alright?"<p>

Obviously the group was now in math class, their last class of the day and unbeknownst to them, their math teacher saw her with Sora's group of friends and decided to keep her close to them.

Apparently he was getting tired of Teirra's silence and he wanted it dealt with and they were the only ones who could help her. So Teirra grabbed her books and bag and nervously went to sit in between the two friends in awkward silence.

Namine just smiled at her while Sora seemed slightly panicky. Seeing this Kairi quickly but quietly and painfully nudged Sora's side with her elbow, causing him to wince and look into her glaring face and he got the message.

He calmed down and looked to Teirra, causing her to look up at him. What confused her was the fact that he was smiling, unfortunately she didn't even attempt to return the smile and they looked back at their papers.

The class went by rather quick, what with watching the amusing acts of Kairi and Riku and Roxas and Namine passing notes of love to each other and seeing their interesting reactions as they all went back and forth with each other.

Soon enough the bell rang to go home and everyone began to leave. Sora was leaving as well, that is, before someone grabbed the bottom of his shirt. He looked behind him to see Teirra was the one keeping him here, with a nervous look on her face.

"Teirra...?" He was confused, why was she doing this all of a sudden?

She looked up at him and her mouth opened and she seemed to say something inaudible, then she spoke louder.

"Uh... Sora, I-I'm sorry about yesterday... for being quiet and all," He stared at her as he listened to her soft voice, so far only Namine had heard her speak and now he was getting the privilege as well.

"But... you wanted to hear my voice, and I'm sure you know everything... I figured that was why you ran off earlier." Apparently she couldn't think of anything else to say because she let go of him and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry." He said, bowing his head. "I didn't know until a few days ago and I didn't know how to talk to you without bringing it up, I didn't want to hurt you. I'm glad I could hear your voice though, thank you."

"O-Oh, um... ok, you don't have to apologize. I..." She seemed to be getting more nervous, Sora laughed at this. "Hey, wanna be friends?" He asked and she did something she thought she'd never do again; she smiled.

"Sounds good."

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><p><strong>Boy I have no idea what to say in these things right now.<strong>

**So much for my promise of updating once a week, looks like I will when I just get bored. lol And since this story was originally made for me to get over some stuff, it'll be pretty obvious when I was in a bad or good mood at the time.**

**Although I might be a little busy with Anime Vegas coming up, my friends want me to make clay figures to sell and I have to make sure my Kairi cosplay isn't messed up or anything.**

**Soo, read and review! I guess. See ya later people!**


	3. Play on the Loose

**Alright! Getting farther in the story now! ..And still only have 2 reviews...right, I guess it's not surprise but whatever.**

**I guess doing that thing where people wait for a certain amount of reviews before updating wouldn't make much sense here.**

**ANYWAY, on with chapter 3.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Play on the Loose**

It's been about a week since Sora and Teirra became friends and since then she's opened up a bit more. She even started sitting at their lunch table during break, right between Namine and Sora since they were the only ones she really felt comfortable around.

Speaking of Namine, her and Teirra are working even harder on making their art project the best drawing they've ever done. Which means they'll have to put tons more effort than normal into it.

The duo was now in their class and they've began the chalk-coloring and shading on their masterpiece. Teirra worked the bird cage while Namine gave her the details on the girl and she drew the boy.

Teirra couldn't help but notice certain details and colors Namine put into the two-dimensional boy on the paper. Spiky brunette hair, eyes as blue as the sea and tanned skin. It looked exactly like her outline, exactly like Sora.

The details Namine was giving her on the girl also seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

As soon as she was done with the cage and the perch hanging from the top Namine told her how she should draw the girl. _Maybe she'll tell me where she got the details from later. _Teirra thought, but before she could start the bell rang and they put the drawing away and left.

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><p>Teirra's fourth class of the day was also with Sora, which was English, her least favorite class, of course. She always did terrible in this class no matter what the work was, especially group projects.<p>

They were currently reading Romeo and Juliet, the ever so famous play that everyone had known their whole lives.

Their teacher suddenly stood in the front of the room and had a pile of papers in her hand, meaning she would pass them out to everyone. "Okay everyone, we're starting a group project today. And don't start making plans with anyone because I'll be doing that for you!" She yelled. _She better be joking or else something's gonna get broken, and it won't be the desks. _Teirra thought, her eye twitched. The teacher looked around to glare at any groaning students.

"It'll be two people per group, the idea is to take a scene from the play and perform it in front of the class. Of course with two people they'll need to be one on one scenes or you could play multiple characters. Here's the groups: Hayner Evergreen and Olette Lockwell." The two people called looked at each other and smiled, Hayner seemed to blush slightly and Olette giggled.

Hayner is one of those gaming and artistic types. He was in Teirra's art class as well, he had spiky blonde hair and brown eyes, he wore a necklace with a yellow X on the chain and had a green plaid shirt with a black shirt underneath and wore baggy jeans with large sneakers.

Olette on the other hand is the intellectual type, meaning she always had good grades at ALL times. She had brown hair that flowed in curls down each of her shoulders and seemed to wave out in the back and she had bright green eyes. She wore a small jade necklace with a green bracelet on her right wrist and wore an orange sun dress with orange sandals.

"Next: Riku Noire and Namine Forgrove." The two looked in each other's direction and shrugged, Roxas and Kairi didn't have this class with them.

"Vanille Oerba and Hope Estheim." Vanille looked at Hope and giggled as he smiled nervously while the girl next to him, Vanille's sister, gave him a look that said 'If you're mean to my sister I'll beat your face in.'

Vanille is a bubbly girl, always happy, always as energetic as a high energizer bunny. She had orange-ish pink-ish colored hair that was up in curly and wavy pigtails and she had green eyes. She wore a long sleeve terra cotta colored shirt with orange bracelets on each wrist and wore a brick red colored skirt with light brown boots that went to her knees.

Hope however is the nervous and quiet type, he had short, pale blonde hair that seemed darker underneath and he also had green eyes like Vanille. He wore a light brown v-neck with dark capris and regular black sneakers.

"Fang Oerba and Seifer Almasy." The two looked at each other in disgust before turning away.

Fang is, of course, Vanille's older sister, twins, but still older. The tough and protective type, both of the sisters had a thick accent, Australian maybe? She had the same sea foam green eyes but had long black hair that waved out in several spots all over. She wore a white jersey shirt that went to her elbows that seemed to cover some kind of tattoo on her left arm with a blue tank top underneath and, like Vanille only a different color, had blue bracelets on each wrist and wore dark blue skinny jeans with blue converse.

Seifer is the annoying bully type unfortunately, but what school doesn't have a bully these days? He had blonde hair that was mostly covered by his black beanie that had some sort of kanji written on the front. He wore a white jacket with a blue shirt underneath, he also wore baggy, blue pants with black army boots.

A few other groups were called before she got to the last group on her list. "And finally: Sora Hikari and Teirra Misaki. Now, these projects are due in a month, so get started as soon as possible." The two heard their names and looked to each other and smiled. _At least I'm working with a friend. _They both thought as the teacher passed out their packets and the bell rang and the groups all walked out together to discuss their projects.

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><p>Teirra and Sora had their fifth class together as well, heck, they even sat next to each other. So they walked side by side and discussed what scene they would use for English, well, sort of.<p>

"Ugh, group projects are the worst, not only that, but we have to perform too." Teirra groaned in frustration and annoyance.

"What do you mean by that? What's so bad about it?" Sora asked and gave her a puzzled look.

"It's not that I don't want to be in the group with you, it's just I do terrible in them. Especially memorizing and acting out lines."

"Bad experience with it?" He smirked when she had a look of embarrassment on her face.

"Maybe..." She said nervously while looking away. "What happened?"

"Back home I took a foreign language once. My group kept hounding me about memorizing everything in time." Teirra said and groaned at the memory.

"And judging by how much you hate projects, I take it you couldn't memorize it all in time." Sora smirked.

"Exactly. I got the wording wrong. Missed some words, and mispronounced half of them, those kids in my group hated me after that." Teirra sighed, her hand running down her face and muttering something about how much she hated that class. Sora was about to press on with more questions about her old school, but it looked like she was done talking about her home for the day.

Teirra missed her home, Sora knew that. But deep down, he was happy she left it. Not in a bad way or anything, but out of all the other places to send her to, they sent her here. If they hadn't, they would've never met.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward their next class and she looked up at him. "Cheer up, you'll do great this time. We'll do it together." He looked at her and smiled, she smiled back and nodded.

They got in just as the bell rang.

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><p>The two were now sitting in their fifth class; chemistry. They were only half way through and Teirra was through with this boredom and just slammed her head on the table she and Sora sat at and he laughed. She was actually good at this stuff, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it.<p>

She rolled her head to face him, which now hurt from when her face and desk made a connection. "Remind me not to do that again." She groaned and he nodded with a smile on his face when she sat up and rubbed her head.

"You had it coming when you slammed into the desk like a rock." He said knowingly with a smirk on his face. She looked at him, _Was there ever a time this guy_ didn't _smile?_

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><p>After what seemed likes hours the agonizing class known as chemistry finally ended, the bell had rung again and the group of friends was now at their table for lunch break.<p>

Teirra never noticed before but Hayner, Olette, Vanille, Fang, even Hope all sat with them during break as well.

There was also a rather tall spiky red head that sat next to Roxas and they always made the most random jokes she had ever heard. His name's Axel Meixner, he was in her first class, music, Roxas and Kairi were also in that class with them. According to Roxas, Axel is a pyromaniac, along with his red hair he has bright green eyes with small black marks under each eye. He wore a black and white striped long sleeve shirt with dark skinny jeans and red converse.

Teirra looked over at another table for a second only to see the entire table staring at her new friends. _I guess these guys are pretty popular.. _She thought, she'd often see other kids looking in her direction when she was with Sora, and people often were caught staring at least at one person in this group of close friends.

"Teirra? Teirra!" Someone called and she snapped out of her spaced state. "Huh?" She asked to no one in particular and saw Riku and Kairi looking at her.

"What'cha working on?" She asked as Riku took Teirra's packet from English from her, ignoring her protest.

"Oh yeah that's right, you and Sora are partners for this project aren't you?" He asked but mostly to himself. Kairi took the packet out of his hands and skimmed it's pages quickly and looked at said partners in excitement. "You guys have Romeo and Juliet? That's awesome! What scene are you doing? Are there costumes? Ooh I wanna see it! Are you gonna ki-" Riku covered her mouth before anymore gibberish was spewed, her words came out so fast you'd have to put her in slow motion to understand her, they shrugged. "Uh, we don't know yet." Sora said, phrasing it almost like a question.

Kairi and Namine exchanged looks before smirking at each other, giving Teirra and Sora chills down their spines. What're they planning now?

"You guys should totally do the final scene!" They exclaimed simultaneously. The partners' faces went red at the thought. "That scene? With t-the kiss? W-Why that one?" Teirra was afraid to ask but was brave enough to do so.

"Ohh, y'know." Kairi smiled knowingly, though the two were still utterly confused, Sora was the first to recover.

"Well we can't think of anything else, sounds good to me." He smiled and Teirra looked at him like he was crazy and sighed. "Well, I guess so. Okay, let's do it." She said finally and smiled nervously, Kairi and Namine high fived.

That night Teirra was nervous as ever, thus keeping her from getting any rest at all. _The last scene? With a kiss? They must be crazy! _Time passed and she began to doze off and she slowly let sleep claim her.

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><p><strong>Twilight Town<strong>

The moonlight shown in through a long window in a large house, in which resided most of Teirra's relatives, or rather, what was left of them.

Bodies littered the floor, blood splattered on the walls, broken furniture, and the cold, dead and empty eyes of each and every one of the rest of Teirra's family. Among them stood one man whose features were hidden in the darkness, their killer, also the killer of the rest of her family. Only the shape of his body was visible, tall and muscular.

He sighed and rolled the body of her grandmother with his foot.

"Not here either." He growled angrily, rubbing his hand across his slightly bearded face. Two other figures walked out of the shadows.

"Just where the hell did she run off to?" Asked the one to the right, he was slightly shorter than the others.

"What're we going to do now?" Asked the one to the left, he was more muscular than the other two.

"We move on, she can't hide for long. That brat won't make a fool out of me again. Come on you morons, the police are here." The three quickly climbed out the window just as the familiar sirens filled the night with noise. Searching for their target, they headed towards Radiant Garden, which was just one town over from where she really was.

Destiny Islands.

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><p><strong>Hah..I'm so messed up. Yay!<strong>

**So on terms of Anime Vegas, it's not looking like I'll be able to sell my figures. But the shoes for my Kairi cosplay came yesterday! They're so shiny...anyway, read and review!**

**Please!**


	4. Kisses and Tears

**Yaay chapter 4! Still don't know how long this story will exactly be but I'll get there! Anyway, onward!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Kisses and Tears**

The next morning Teirra had just left for school, her new friends accompanying her on the way. Squall watched them go down the sidewalk, seeing a smile on her face as she talked with Sora. He smiled at this to himself.

She still didn't talk too much, at least more than before anyway, she's become happier since she met the group of friends. Occasionally while she was with him and Lightning she'd tell a story or two.

It was like the three had become a family.

He paused. What would happen to her when this killer business was over? Would she go home or stay here? Would he and Lightning be forced to leave her all by her lonesome self? This was an assignment after all, but Teirra wouldn't have anything to return to, maybe other relatives, but still.

It wasn't like Squall and Lightning had much waiting for them in each of their small apartments anyway either. His old sweetheart had moved on. And while Lightning had her sister Serah, she now lived with her husband, Snow.

While Squall was lost in his thoughts, the phone rang. Lightning walked over and saw the dazed Squall, shaking her head, she picked up the phone. It was the chief.

_"Good morning Lightning."_ She said on the other line, the station sounded busy today so early in the morning.

"Good morning Sir." Lightning said, straightening up.

_"How's the assignment coming?"_ The chief asked.

"Very well, no sign of any disturbance. She's actually been getting better herself." Lightning said the last part with a small smile on her face.

_"Is that so? Well... that's good to hear." _The chief sounded troubled, Lightning caught it.

"Chief?"

_"Lightning, we... we got another report from Twilight Town. About the girl's family."_ Lightning tensed up.

"What'd it say?" She asked cautiously.

_"They're gone."_

She nearly dropped the phone, Squall snapped out of his dazed state and looked at her nervously.

"A... All of them, sir?" She asked.

_"Yes, as of now you two are on constant watch. This psychopath seems to have a partner or two, we're unsure of the exact amount so stay alert. And, Lightning?"_

"Yes?"

_"Be careful with her, who knows how she'll react to this news. Take it slow."_ She said and she hung up. Lightning slowly out down the phone, she looked up find Squall looking at her expectantly.

"That was the chief. Teirra's entire family has been murdered." She said quietly. His breath hitched. They both sank into whatever chair or couch was nearest to them.

They let the information sink in. Gone? Every single one of them?

_I guess that answers one question._ He thought. Teirra officially had nothing to return to back home.

The real question is: How will they break it to her?

* * *

><p>Teirra and the rest of her friends arrived at school, they had at least ten minutes before the bell would ring. So she took this time to finally change the alarm on her phone, she took off the one of her parents and changed it to one of her favorite songs; Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru.<p>

Sora looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Oh hey, you've got a phone." She looked up at him and nodded. "Wanna exchange numbers?" He asked, she looked nervous.

She didn't exchange numbers with people very often, so it felt awkward whenever she actually did. She shook it off and nodded again and smiled. "Sure."

"Awesome! I wanna give you mine too okay?" Kairi jumped in happily. Soon enough all of her friends had exchanged numbers with her. She scrolled through her newly updated contact list, which was now over flowing with new numbers from Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, Riku, Axel, Hayner, Olette, Vanille, Fang, even Hope, who had barely ever spoken to her.

Soon enough the bell had rung, sending everyone their separate ways. Everyone said their temporary goodbyes and Teirra began to head to music class with Axel, Roxas, and Kairi.

* * *

><p>"Okay class, today we'll begin practicing the vocals. Starting with a duet! It can be any song you choose, you have a week to practice before you present. By then you must have the lyrics memorized to the point, is that clear?" Everyone nodded and their teacher continued, "Good, now get into your groups! Let's get started people!"<p>

The music teacher was definitely unique, he had a blonde mullet with sparkling eyes to match. Though unlike most teachers, he didn't try to keep a professional appearance, just a blue flannel with the sleeves rolled up and dark jeans. He didn't even have any shoes on, he seemed very lazy and forgetful at times too, he even carried cue cards with him everywhere he went.

Axel and Roxas decided to be partners, immediately creating a devious plan to 'Rick Roll' the whole class, oh joy.

Teirra and Kairi chose to be partners, picking none other than Teirra's new alarm, Simple and Clean.

"Ooh this is going to be so much fun! I've always wanted to sing a duet before." Kairi exclaimed happily. Teirra nodded. "Yeah it'll be fun, I love this song anyway." She smiled.

"Awesome! And since you don't have a computer I'll get the lyrics ok? How about we do every other verse?" Kairi asked and Teirra nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>It was now English, everyone was in their groups and practicing in different parts of the school, their teacher said something along the lines of "Let your wings spread outside of the classroom." Whatever that means.<p>

Teirra and Sora, with their scripts in hand, went to practice in a spot where there were no other students, the courtyard in the back. Surprisingly, Teirra had never been here before, lush green trees lined a fence surrounded by beautiful flowers, through the fence was a view of the beach, the school was pretty close to beach anyway so the whole building had the same crisp, ocean air like smell everywhere.

"Alright. This spot seems good enough. Right?" Sora asked and turned to Teirra and she nodded.

"Yeah, so uh, we should get started right?" She was still nervous of the idea of her and Sora doing the final scene; which involved kissing. Her cheeks heated up at the thought.

They seemed to be sharing the same thought, as he reddened as well but nodded nonetheless.

"The doors of breath, seal with a righteous... k-kiss. A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! ..H-Here's to my love!" Sora had a hard time trying to keep a straight face while exclaiming these ridiculous lines for his part in the scene, he couldn't help but laugh, neither of them could.

Teirra stood by him and noticed he got nervous at the last part, they were getting closer to the reason Kairi and Namine picked this scene in the first place; the kiss.

Their teacher said they had to 'reenact' every bit of the scene. The lines, the facial expressions, the movements, everything every time they practiced, Teirra just refused to lay on the ground pretending to be dead for the time being.

Sora then pretended to drink and invisible poison from an invisible bottle.

"O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a... k-kiss, I must die." He staggered around clumsily, his antics making Teirra giggle slightly. He made his way over to her and she froze as he came closer.

He paused. Obviously out of nervousness, not acting. They stared at each other for a moment, faces as red as Kairi's hair. He inched close to Teirra.

Closer, closer, their lips barely apart, just a little closer.

_RIIING_

They stood there in the courtyard, almost frozen in time, gazing at each other. Unaware the bell had rang, they quickly realized what almost happened and immediately pull away. Their faces still beet red as they packed their backpacks.

"O-Okay, well uh, see you later." Teirra said nervously, walking in the opposite direction as Sora.

"R-Right, um... wait a sec." Sora watched her go, she forgot they go the same direction, his direction. He chuckled and shook his head and began walking away. _She'll figure it out._

Not a minute later, Teirra turned and hurried in Sora's direction.

* * *

><p>Chemistry was unnervingly quiet between Teirra and Sora, they couldn't even look at each other without feeling their cheeks heat up as they remembered the near-kiss. Sitting next to each other only made it harder.<p>

Time just flew by and the next thing they know they're sitting at their regular table with their other friends during break.

"What's with them?" Roxas to no one in particular, Namine decided to reply.

"They practiced their scene." Namine whispered, she was enjoying every second of this.

Kairi laughed. The two were completely oblivious to the others' words. "It's so cute it's hilarious how nervous they are." She giggled, Riku smirked.

"Sora and Teirra sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-" He sang but was cut off by an apple that was thrown into his mouth.

"I heard that." Sora growled, but he blushed at the thought.

"Ah, someone's finally awake." Roxas smirked.

"But we weren't sleeping." Teirra said confusingly.

"I've heard it both ways." He said blankly and returned to eating his sandwich with Namine as Teirra and Sora raised their brows.

* * *

><p>Sixth period went by rather quick, soon enough the bell had rang and the group was walking home together.<p>

Teirra and Sora planned when they should practice after school tomorrow, no bells to interrupt. Her eyes strayed away from the sidewalk and to a familiar pink-haired bodyguard.

"Lightning?" Sora and friends looked in Teirra's direction. Lightning was indeed standing further up the road.

"What's she doing here?" Sora asked curiously and Teirra shook her head.

"I'm not sure." Teirra stared at her, she seemed to be upset about something, but what? The group walked over to her and asked what was up.

"I'm taking you home now Teirra. It... it's dangerous out here." Teirra was right. Something was wrong.

Sora raised a brow, why was Lightning acting like this? She hadn't whenever he saw her. She grabbed Teirra's arm before she could object.

"Wait, Lightning. What's wrong? There's no danger here." She was scared, she had never seen Lightning like this before.

"I... I have news, from the chief. It's about your family," Teirra's eyes widened, did something happen? "But I can't tell you here. We're going home."

Teirra frowned, she didn't like where this was going at all. She turned to her friends and saw their confused expressions, she looked specifically at Sora, who looked worried. She sighed.

"Okay Lightning. Well, bye guys, see you tomorrow." She waved and walked away silently, they waved back and watched her go.

"I wonder what happened." Kairi said.

"I hope everything's okay." Namine said worriedly.

As they were walking ,Teirra's phone vibrated. She took it out and saw she received a message.

_To: Teirra_

_From: Sora_

_I hope everything's ok. :( _

She smiled and quickly replied and Sora found a message from her.

_To: Sora_

_From: Teirra_

_Me too._

* * *

><p>Lightning opened the door and let Teirra in before shutting the door. She put her bag down nervously and looked to Squall who had taken a seat next to Lighting on the couch.<p>

"You might want to sit down for this one." He said sadly.

Teirra sat down in a chair across from them. She was scared. Really scared. What were they going to tell her? Squall looked at Teirra, how would she react? Would she ever smile again? He didn't know, but they had to get this over with, and now.

"Teirra, we... we got a call from the chief this morning. It was about your family," He paused and gulped nervously. "She said that, they were murdered. He got your family... there's no one left."

Her eyes widened in shock, she's frozen. Gone? All of them? She tried to form words but not even a sound would come out. She struggled to her feet and made way for her room. She needed to be alone.

Lightning tried to assist her but she got stopped by Teirra's cold, empty stare. After a while, she made it in her room.

She let her emotions take her and collapsed on her bed and hugged her pillow tightly, crying as hard and as much as she could. She didn't get any sleep that night, nor did she go to school the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>Uh oh! Everyone else is gone too! Man I'm messed up...lol<strong>

**Honestly, I just found the Romea and Juliet script online somewhere and used it here. I had a book with the actual script but I lost it so I'm sorry if the weird old day writing is even more messed up than normal!**

**AnimeVegas is getting closer, yay! Unfortunately I very likely will NOT be able to get a table with my friends in the artist's room thing. Oh well, at least now I don't have to say goodbye to my little Sora, Roxas, and L and those guys!**

**If you ever want to see them just find them on my deviantArt! It's Teirra-Misaki Not creative, I know, but I came up with the name long before I made this story!**

**Anyway, see you next week! Read & Review please!**


	5. Special Day

**So I've been in a pretty good mood since yesterday-except for the site being stupid and not letting me do anything for a while-so I gigured, why not put up another chapter that nobody seems to be reading or reviewing to? Yeah? Great? _Peachy._**

**I know other people are reading this! Please say something about it and just tell me how it is or something! DX**

**Anyway, on with chapter 5.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**Special Day**

What was today? Teirra felt something familiar about today, what was it?

She quickly dismissed the thought and read another message from Sora she had gotten. She hasn't been to school in three days and she hadn't told anyone exactly why.

_To: Teirra_

_From: Sora_

_Hey, its me again. Just wondering whats up. We're all worried about you. :(_

Her finger hovered over the reply button. Should she tell him why she's been gone? She hesitated before sighing and closing her phone. What could she possibly tell him when asked why she didn't talk or go to school? _Oh sorry I only lost my whole family in one day, no big. _She sighed.

She stood from her bed and looked at herself in the mirror and instantly regretted doing so. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, she had lost some weight as well because she hadn't been eating much lately either and her clothes were getting too big for her.

Teirra turned and stared at her phone, she does at least owe it to her friends, let alone Sora, to tell them something. She couldn't tell them exactly what's going on, maybe just indirectly say she's troubled with the news Lightning and Squall had told her.

She picked up her phone, _Maybe just a little message._

Sora saw his phone light up on his desk, the vibrating moving it ever so slightly. Seeing the message was from Teirra he quickly picked the phone up, nearly sending it flying out of his hand and he read the message.

_To: Sora_

_From: Teirra_

_Hey Sora, sorryiI haven't gotten back to you at all. i'm just trying to sort some things out._

He cocked his head to the side. Sorting things out? What could she mean? He was afraid to ask, fearing he might be pushing too far.

_To: Teirra_

_From: Sora_

_Its ok, im glad you replied though. i was getting worried, i hope you'll come back soon. Maybe when you do we could rehearse some more, and i know everyone else is itching to see you too._

He sent the message and closed his phone and returned to his homework that was anxiously awaiting him.

Teirra read the message from where she lied on her bed. She felt herself beginning to doze off, sleep trying to fight her consciousness yet again. She was about to reply to his message but it appears sleep finally won the first round in days.

* * *

><p>"She finally replied? What'd she say?"<p>

"She just said she's sorting things out, okay Kairi? Quit yelling." Sora said while covering his ears, Teirra hadn't come to school again, and Kairi was currently interrogating him with her loudest voice ever.

Riku pulled her back before she could cause Sora's ears any permanent damage.

Roxas and Namine had the same question going through their heads. "Is she okay?" He asked.

"I hope so. I'm going to stop by her house today after school, maybe give her the work she missed." He regretted saying he would do so when he looked up to find Hayner and Riku up in his face, smirking.

"Aww, Sora's gonna see his girlfriend today." Hayner teased.

"Dude I told you! They'll get down and dirty, and have-AUGH!" He was interrupted yet again, only this time by Sora's shoe.

"Enough of that already! We're not like that okay! Ah, screw this I'm going to class." Sora stormed off towards his next class of the day, his hand covering his mouth and his face as red as a tomato.

_We aren't like that at all... right?_

"Hey guys! I just had the most awesome idea!" Kairi exclaimed.

"What about Sora?" Olette asked.

"We'll fill him in later. So when he goes to see Teirra we'll..."

* * *

><p>"Alright, I'm off."<p>

"Don't forget the plan Sora!" Roxas yelled.

"I know, I know." Sora said, scratching the back of his head and running off towards Teirra's home.

He reached the front door in no time, next thing he knew Lightning had answered the door and looked down at him in slight surprise.

"Um, you're Sora right?," He nodded. "What're you doing here?"

"Well I... I came to see Teirra. Can I?" He asked innocently. She stared at him, not knowing what she should do.

Before she could turn him down, Squall came out of nowhere, smiling.

"Sure kid, she's in her room upstairs. It's the first room on the left, go ahead." He said and Sora nodded happily and hurried upstairs, quickly but quietly.

"Squall, what're you doing?" Lightning whispered, with a bit of anger in her voice.

"I know what you're thinking Light. But she won't talk to anyone, he made her better the first time, maybe he can do it again." She looked off into the distance and shut the door.

Could he?

* * *

><p>Sora walked down the hall until he reached the door Squall had directed him to. He raised his fist to knock and hesitated. Would she be mad he came without telling her? What if she was sleeping and he was about to wake her?<p>

He shoved those thoughts away and knocked on the door.

Silence.

Confused, he knocked again. This time talking while doing so. "Teirra? It's me, Sora." He said quietly, but loud enough to reach through the door. He heard a yelp and something falling over followed by more silence.

"Teirra?"

The door cracked open, seeing a head pop out from the side, he smiled. "Teirra, hey. I-I uh, I'm sorry I didn't call ahead of time b-but I wanted to see how you were, so-" He paused and looked her over. Skinnier than before, bags under her eyes, and to top it off her eyes were red and puffy, had she been crying?

"Teirra? Are you okay? What happened?" He asked quickly and she put on a fake smile.

"I-It's nothing, really." She bit her lip, struggling to keep her emotions in check. She couldn't live with herself if she let him see her cry or upset after all he's done to make her happy already.

Sora wasn't convinced at all. "Teirra, what happened? You can tell me." He said reassuringly.

She frowned, she fought her tears to keep them at bay but she couldn't much longer.

"W-Well I... you see..." One tear. That one tear just couldn't stay back, it rolled down her cheek and fell to the ground.

"Teirra... ?" Sora feared the worst, what happened to her?

"You know... when Lightning told me she had news... about my family...?," He nodded slowly. "Well, she said that... they..." She choked out and her voice cracked, she covered her mouth and turned away from Sora, tears streamed down her face.

She felt Sora's arms wrap around her and he pulled her to his chest and turned her to face him.

He stared into her brown eyes- they weren't the usual dark brown like most brown eyed people, hers were more a milk chocolate brown- seeing loneliness and sadness. Suddenly it hit him, he realized what happened and widened his eyes.

"They're... gone, aren't they?" That was all it took, she buried her face in his chest, crying freely in the open and not bothering to stop.

His grip tightened around her as he felt his shirt slowly getting soaked by her tears. He just couldn't believe it. Not even a month after her parents' deaths and now everyone else in her family is gone too. It wasn't fair.

He let her stay there just a while longer before pulling away, her tears nearly gone and now only sniffles remained.

"Teirra... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you to come back all the time. If I had known, I would've let you be." He said apologetically.

She shook her head. "N-No... it's ok, e-even though I didn't respond... I-I kind of liked it. You, everyone else, you made me feel l-like... I wasn't a-alone." She sniffed. Her voice was soft and almost inaudible, but Sora caught every word.

He wanted to help her, to cheer her up.

Suddenly he remembered Kairi's plan, of course, it was perfect.

He turned Teirra's head to look at him and he smiled softly. "Why don't you go get dressed? I want to take you somewhere." He said and she only stared at him confusingly before silently obeying and he walked out the door.

On the other side Teirra found herself completely lost, she backed into a wall and slowly slid down, leaning her head against the flat surface. What just happened?

"What... did you just do?" He looked to find Lightning standing next to the door, speechless. Well, technically, almost speechless.

"Honestly... I have no idea. But today at school Kairi came up with something to cheer her up and I guess she just said she'd come. She doesn't exactly know about it yet though, if you know what I mean." He laughed nervously, hopefully Lightning wasn't one of those people that goes around telling secrets to people, she didn't look like the type.

He went downstairs with Squall when Lightning said she wanted to talk to Teirra about something and went in her room.

Minutes later the boys heard the door open and they looked up the stairs, only to see something they didn't expect.

Apparently Lightning had helped Teirra get ready, since there's no way she would've done this herself, considering what was going through her mind at the moment.

She had on light make-up, giving her eyes that smoky look, it did well to hide the bags under her eyes as well. She still wore her blue heart necklace, of course. She wore a white dress that seemed to be layered past the white frilled shirt that was connected to the top, the dress stopped at her knees and she wore light brown sandals with flowers along the straps.

Yup, she definitely didn't do it herself.

Sora stood and walked over to her. "Wow, Teirra, you look... uh, n-nice." He smiled nervously, a blush creeping to his cheeks and she fiddled with the hem of her dress in nervous silence. Squall smirked from behind Sora and looked to Lightning, who gave Teirra a light push towards Sora and Squall aimed them toward the door.

"Keep her safe, okay kid?" Squall said and Sora nodded and thanked them. He grabbed Teirra's hand, smiling reassuringly and shut the door.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" He asked Lightning as she stood beside him, staring at the door.

"When I went in her room she looked better than she had in days. Not exactly smiling, but it's a change. You were right, he can help her again, I know it." She said, confidence in her voice.

* * *

><p>"Uh, Sora? Where're we going?"<p>

"You'll see."

Teirra frowned, why wouldn't he tell her where they were going? She remembered what Lightning had told her when she came into her room after Sora left.

_"Okay Teirra. Today is a special day for you. Relax, enjoy yourself for a change."_

_"What do you mean Lightning?"_

_"You'll see, here, change into this."_

She lightly squeezed Sora's hand. What did she mean by today being special? And why did she make her change into this outfit? She remembered Sora's comment on it and her cheeks heated up a little.

"We're almost there." Sora said, snapping Teirra out of her thoughts. He let go of her hand and looked down at her, she looked completely lost, better than when he first saw her, but lost.

"So... you feeling okay? Any better?" He asked nervously and she nodded.

"Yeah, um, a-a little. I guess." Why was she so nervous? She didn't have anything to be nervous about around him, did she? Well, except their last rehearsal, but that was nothing.

They walked up to a large building. The windows were darkened so Teirra couldn't see inside. The building itself was a beige color and had a European touch to it, with intricate designs and architecture. Sora opened the door and looked to Teirra, he covered her eyes with his hands.

"S-Sora! What're you doing?" She asked and he smiled.

"Just follow my lead. You'll be okay." He said reassuringly and she obeyed, following his footsteps into the darkness of the building.

"Aaand..." He removed his hands from her eyes, quickly turning on the lights. Suddenly all of her friends jumped out from underneath tables and chairs with party hats and wide smiles on their faces.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEIRRA!"

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><p><strong>And there you go. Chapter 5, let me know what you think! Read AND review!<strong>

**Alright, awesome, until next time!**


	6. The Perfect Gift

**Alright, farther into the story...that nobody's reading, awesome.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**The Perfect Gift**

_"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEIRRA!"_

All of Teirra's friends came out of their hiding places, Hayner's pants got stuck to a chair, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"Son-of-a-bitch... chair!" He yelled, his voice muffled by the floor. Olette giggled and helped him up, getting his pants unstuck from the chair.

Kairi and Namine came up to Teirra and hugged the surprised brunette, smiles on their faces.

"Well? What do you think? Kairi came up with it." Namine said cheerfully.

"I know we're a day late. But it's not too bad for a ton of last minute planning, right Teirra?" Kairi asked, pride in her voice. Teirra nodded.

"Yeah, but... how did you all know? I haven't told anyone yet."

"Lightning told me, I'm just that awesome." Roxas said proudly.

"I thought she told you because you wouldn't stop begging her to." Sora said, laughing as Roxas bowed his head in embarrassment, everyone else joining in the laughter as well, even Teirra who did so softly and quietly.

Sora caught this change in her behavior and grinned, after hearing what happened to her family, he didn't think he'd ever see that smile again.

Teirra began to walk around the building to take a look around. With a surprise like this, her sight simply shut off except on her friends.

It appeared to be a coffeehouse, judging by the smell of coffee beans in the air and the sweeteners and creams littering each and every table in the room.

The walls were painted a chocolate brown with pink swirls and other intricate designs in each corner, there were rather comfortable looking chairs and couches and even the occasional loveseat next to small tables and stools.

But what really caught her eye was a long table next to the door with a small amount of presents. Teirra's mouth hung open for a moment before she turned to her friends, looking as happy as ever.

"Guys, I... you didn't have to do this." She said and Sora swung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"Don't worry about it. We wanted to, we didn't have to." He said, smiling. Teirra felt her face heat up and she quickly looked down, finding her shoes interesting.

Kairi suddenly came up behind the two and pushed Teirra toward the gift-covered table. "Come on Teirra! Quit stalling and open up your presents!" She shouted happily. Teirra nervously, and obediently, opened her presents.

From Kairi and Riku, she received a shirt. It was red, since that was her favorite color, and had white frill on the bottom, around the collar, and on the ends of each sleeve. It had two rectangles in the center that were gray and had pockets on each side, it was torn where the shoulder and arm connected at each sleeve, but that appeared to be done on purpose.

"Kairi's the one who picked it out actually, I just happened to be the only one with any munny on hand." Riku laughed and Kairi punched his arm playfully. Teirra thanked them and was urged to open the next one from Roxas and Namine.

She unwrapped it delicately to find a complicated, yet beautifully crafted picture frame, she would have to get a group photo with everyone to put in it before the day was out. It was pink with stars on the bottom corners and bubble patterns on the left and right sides. On the top and bottom of the frame were brown, painted elaborate designs going all the way across.

Judging by the craftsmanship, the design was clearly Namine's doing. "Aww, thanks you guys. " Teirra said and the couple smiled at her.

Time passed, and other gifts were discovered.

From Vanille, she had gotten hair ties and clips. She immediately helped Teirra tie the white bow around her hair she had pulled back for her, _She looks adorable with that thing._ Sora's cheeks redden at his own thoughts while clutching a small box in his pocket.

Axel, happily, gave her a camera. It was a larger type, it had a strap that would go around her neck and had the zoom in and out function like most cameras these days. It was a dull silver color with brown corners, something on the top flipped up, revealing it to be the flash.

Hope had given her stickers for her cell phone, ones with music notes, hearts, birds, stuff like that. She smiled slightly and put a blue bird sticker on his phone and he smiled as she put a music note sticker on her own.

Olette presented her with colored pens, saying she could "Color organize her notes." She sweatdropped, it figures Olette would go with something for school, she thanked Olette nonetheless.

From Hayner, she had gotten a new sketchpad, with them being in the same art class he could tell she was low on paper. He had even given her a box of conte, the blending chalks she used in class that she absolutely adored. She looked up at Hayner, these things are expensive, he read her look and simply dismissed it with a smile. Teirra really did have great friends.

And from Fang...

"Give it to me Teirra." She demanded.

"W-Wait, we're doing this now?" Teirra asked nervously.

"Well duh, come on, it's not that hard. Trust me, I'm a professional."

"Oh, I'm sure you are..." Fang glared and took Teirra's arm, she even already had any and all the supplies she would need. Some of which looked sharp, Teirra gulped and nearly fainted. _Oh God..._

Fang wanted to give Teirra a tattoo, badly, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. She watched as Fang carefully but quickly used a tool to make the permanent mark on her arm, wincing every now and then when it made contact.

Soon enough she finished, sighing happily and putting her tools away.

"There you go, one tattoo, fresh on the flesh." She said and winked at her. Teirra wasn't so sure she liked that phrase.

She looked at her arm, seeing six small symbols, all close together in a vertical line down her arm.

"What is it?" Teirra asked, smiling.

"Curious, eh? I knew you'd like it, it means spirit. It's written in the language from our home country." Fang said proudly, looking to Vanille who confirmed it.

"Wow, thanks Fang. You're the best tattoo artist ever." Teirra said and laughed nervously, she hadn't even seen other tattoo art, except for the one on Fang's left arm near her shoulder. Maybe that was her doing too, but either way, Fang was indeed talented.

"Thanks, now it's gonna sting for a little while. Maybe just put some ice on it or soak it in water. Don't freak out when it starts hurting alright?" Teirra nodded and looked around. It was getting stuffy in here, she decided to head upstairs and found a balcony and rested her arms on the railing, gazing at the night sky.

Sora looked around the room, still clutching the small box in his pocket. _Where is she?_

"Hey have you seen Teirra anywhere?" He asked to Riku, who was eating a slice of cake.

"I think I saw her go upstairs." He said through a muffled voice, barely catching a piece of cake that fell off his plate and Sora rushed upstairs.

He found his target, Teirra stood at the balcony, completely oblivious to the brunette behind her. He found himself watching her rather than talking to her. There was a slight breeze, causing her hair to flow slightly, the bow Vanille helped her tie making her hair look brighter in contrast with the white fabric.

Despite her huge loss in weight over the past few days, the slight poof in her dress seemed to hide that fact, like her make-up hiding the dark circles under her eyes. He pushed back the worries for a moment and decided to approach her, box in hand.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked, hoping not to startle her, he succeeded.

"Yeah, it's a beautiful night out, don't you think?" She said and he nodded. Teirra, being the artist she was, takes notice of everything and everyone, seeing their beauty, inside and outside. It was one of the things he loved about her.

_Wait a minute, loved? I don't even like her that way, damn it Sora, keep it together!_ He inwardly cursed at himself and shook his head as a blush made its way to his cheeks. Teirra looked at him, puzzled.

"You okay Sora?" She asked worriedly.

"What? O-Oh no, I mean yes! I'm fine, I'm great actually!" He said loudly, scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously.

She giggled, "You're so funny." She said and he blushed, embarrassed.

"R-Right, um, well anyways, I wanted to... uh, give you this. It's my gift, to you." He said and pulled the box he had been holding so dearly out of his pocket and put it in her hands.

He told her to open and she did so immediately, opening the box carefully, removing any paper in the way, she was awestruck.

In the box was a gold-colored chain bracelet, with four charms across from each other. Two pink hearts and two silver crowns, she looked up to Sora.

"Sora this is too much, I can't-" He shushed her by putting his finger to her mouth.

"It's not too much and you will take it. Please? I spent days trying to find you a good gift. Here, I'll even help you put it on." He said happily as he took the box and pulled the bracelet out, placing it around her right wrist carefully.

"Sora, I... I don't know what to say." She was speechless, happy though, he smiled.

"You don't have to say anything, I'm just glad that... that I was able to make you smile again." He said, Teirra felt her cheeks heat up, why was it Sora that made her feel this way? She ignored her thoughts and hugged him tightly, taking him by surprise.

"T-Teirra? What're you-"

"Thanks Sora, I love it." She said happily and he pulled slightly away, still holding her at arms' length.

"Really?" He seemed surprised, she nodded.

"I'll wear it every day." He laughed, Teirra really was different, in a good way.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I found a matching one, huh?" He rolled up his sleeve on his right arm, he had a similar bracelet, only with two silver crowns and two gold stars.

"They're like friendship bracelets, right?" Sora smiled and Teirra laughed, nodding. She paused and gazed at the stars.

_Friendship bracelets, why does it feel like... I want them to mean more than that?_

* * *

><p><strong>Surprisingly no horizontal break-thingys in this one, which is weird but, oh well.<strong>

**Getting deeper into stuff, yaay!**

**Ok, soo read & review!**


	7. Friendly Competitions

**I'm sorry I'm a day late and that this story is going so slow for those of you who are ACTUALLY reading this story. If you still are I have no idea of course, but still.**

**I do not own KH, only Teirra.**

**I don't know why I don't do this all the time or not at all but I am now.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**Friendly Competitions**

"Mommy! Daddy! Where'd you go!" A young version of Teirra, maybe 8 or 9 years old and wearing a short white dress, ran aimlessly in a void of light, frantically looking around as she ran.

She came across two figures, one a woman with long brown hair with blue eyes, and a man with short, spiky red hair and brown eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy!" They turned at the sound of her voice and smiled warmly as the young girl jumped into their arms and set her down.

"I looked everywhere for you! I thought I lost you." She said and their mouths opened to reassure her they were okay.

But no sound came out.

Teirra watched them confusingly, their mouths were moving, but there was no sound, no voices. Suddenly the light void became dark, now a blood red color.

Her eyes wandered the area fearfully, she turned to her parents, who now looked distorted and no longer had their faces.

She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands and backed away. Suddenly she came face-to-face with a large butcher knife, blood dripping off the blade.

She looked behind it for the source, it went straight through her parents' torsos.

"NO!" She shrieked, trying to run away as their lifeless bodies dropped to the ground, the knife now following her. She threw her hands over her ears, the agonizing screams of her now deceased relatives echoing throughout the dark void.

She stopped in her tracks, there was a dark figure standing a long distance away from her, but the eerie grin and long shadow he cast made him feel a lot closer than Teirra would like. She turned slightly, seeing the knife was no longer following her. She turned back to find the figure now right in front of her, the knife now a normal size, but in his hands.

"I-It was you... wasn't it?" Teirra asked, backing away every step he took toward her.

"You bet it was, and it was great. The pleasure one feels once they've killed, oh you have no idea how great it feels!" He laughed darkly and loudly, _This guy's crazy._ She thought.

She found herself stuck, her back against the wall, he inched closer to her.

"I have to say, the happiness I felt when I killed your family was wonderful. But you see, their deaths just weren't enough. The only way to satisfy my craving," He raised his knife above her head. "Is to finish you!"

The knife rained down towards Teirra's head and she screamed.

_RIING_

Teirra awoke with a jolt, beads of sweat trickling down her face and onto her pillow. She looked around her room frantically.

_RIING_

She jumped at the sound of her phone, she sighed and picked it up to find Kairi calling. She opened her phone and placed it against her ear.

"Hello?" She said groggily.

_"Teirra? Did you just get out of bed or something?"_ She asked.

"Maybe."

_"It's almost nine already! It's not like you to wake up at this time."_ Teirra could hear the concern in her voice.

_"Have you still been having those dreams?"_ She asked.

"Yeah... wait a minute, how did you know about that? I haven't told anyone."

"_Hee hee, Sora told me silly, who else could have?"_ She did have a point, only Sora would know something like that, he must've irritated Lightning and Squall to no end for them to tell him _that_ too.

The night Teirra came back from her surprise party, Sora walked her home since it was dark out already. The moment they walked in, Sora immediately went to the two bodyguards and got them to fess up about everything, including her current eating habits. Sora exclaimed to her that he would make her eat something every day at lunch or whenever else they would meet up until she was her normal weight again.

"I figured as much, he can get Lightning and Squall to tell him anything he wants these days." Teirra sighed and smiled, Kairi laughed.

_"Yeah, anyways I had a plan today for us all to go to the beach. It's still warm out and this might be our last chance to get some sun, ya know? So do you wanna come?"_ She asked happily. Teirra gulped. The beach? Beach meant swimming, something Teirra wasn't very good at.

"The beach? Well I uh... I don't exactly have a swim suit." She said nervously.

_"Really? Great! The rest of us girls need to find new suits today anyway! We'll all go together!"_ Kairi yelled, making Teirra have to pull her phone away from her ear.

"Seriously? Um... g-great." She said, _This can't be good._

_"Don't worry! We'll find you one that Sora's gonna love."_ Kairi said mischievously.

"Wha- Wait Kairi I-!" Teirra said frantically, but Kairi cut her off.

_"Gotta go Teirra! We'll see you outside The Shack at ten. See ya!"_

_BEEP_

Teirra closed her phone, blushing madly. A suit Sora would like?

_What am I going to do?_

* * *

><p>It was now the designated time Kairi had suggested, Teirra made her way to The Shack to find Kairi, Namine, Olette, Fang, and Vanille standing outside the shop and waving at her.<p>

"So Teirra, you ready to go shopping?" Olette asked, swinging her arm around Teirra.

"Uh, yeah... l-let's get this party started, right?" Teirra said nervously, raising her hand in the air, balled into a fist.

"Yeah let's do it!" Vanille yelled happily as they went inside.

Everyone ran in separate directions to find themselves the perfect suit, everyone but Fang and Teirra.

"Are you not a good swimmer either Fang?" Teirra asked.

"It's not that, I just already have mine in my bag." She opened her satchel to reveal a black swimsuit with blue stripes and swirls as the design. "Wait a minute, you can't swim?" She asked in realization at Teirra's words.

She blushed and looked away.

"Are you serious? Oh my god, this is priceless! A seventeen-year-old who can't swim!" Fang laughed as she fell to the floor in her fit of laughter, "Oh, my sides!" She said painfully, yet happily.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get all the insults out of the way right now." Teirra sighed and walked away, leaving Fang on the floor to get awkward stares from other customers.

Soon enough everyone but Teirra had found their swim suits of choice. Kairi found a simple but slightly revealing red bikini, Namine found a white one that had frills on the top piece. Olette had an orange one that was similar to Namine's and Vanille had found one like Fang's, only it was peach colored with a light brown design.

"Here Teirra! Try this one!" Kairi yelled as she thrust the tiniest and most skimpy bikini Teirra had ever seen.

"There is no way in hell I'm wearing that thing." She said bluntly, Kairi sighed and continued looking.

Teirra looked from rack to rack at the different swimsuits and she sighed. _Geez it's like they're encouraging women these days to look slutty._

Suddenly a particular suit caught her eye. It wasn't too revealing, and it wasn't too... _not_ revealing either. It was perfect. It was a navy blue color with white seagulls flying in the distance on the top piece, the bottom was the same blue with white stripes.

"Ooh that one's perfect for you!" Vanille suddenly popped out of nowhere, nearly giving Teirra a heart attack.

The girls paid for their suits and made their way out of the shop.

"Okay , we're meeting the guys at the beach in one hour so... what should we do until then?" Namine asked, going into her special thinking pose.

All the others soon followed suit.

Teirra was the first to speak up. "How about the arcade?" She immediately got stares from every one of them.

"What? I like games, okay." She said meekly.

"That's a great idea Teirra! I had no idea you were a gamer!" Kairi said happily and swung an arm over her shoulder and Teirra scratched her head and smiled.

"Alright then. Onward!" Vanille shouted.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean out of lives? Stupid ghosts!" Olette kicked the Pac-Man game in anger, regretting it as she realized how much it hurts when you kick a giant metal box.<p>

"Yay, I win!" Namine shouted.

It was strange, but she's a lot like Hayner when he's playing with his PSP, concentrated, and throwing a fit when he loses. Olette wasn't the gaming type, but she can be competitive when she wants to be.

Kairi was in her own little world, playing Mario Bros., she sighed exasperatedly. "Ugh! Why is it so how hard to reach the top of the flag?" She yelled when she ran out of lives.

"This one is fun! It's like I'm an archeologist or something!" Vanille said happily, she was playing Dig Dug, and was surprisingly good at it too. She even still had all her lives.

"You won't get past me Fang!" Teirra said, grinning.

"Don't jinx it yet kid. Aaaand- there we go! First place!" Fang backed away as the race ended and shot her hands in the air in victory.

"Aww man! I was so close!" Teirra growled.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, now gimme."

"Fine." She sighed, giving Fang a dollar for winning, she and Teirra have been competing with each at everything ever since Fang gave her that tattoo for her birthday. At this point it was just how they enjoyed each other's company.

"Booyah! That's right! I am the king of ass-whooping in Mario Kart!"

"I think you mean queen." Olette corrected.

"Yeah, queen, whatever." Fang simply dismissed her.

"Oh crap! Girls, we only have five minutes to beat the guys to beach, it's ten minutes away! Hurry!" Kairi shouted frantically and they all ran as fast as they could to the beach.

"What's the big problem? Why does it matter who gets there first?" Teirra asked while running at the same pace as Namine.

"Whoever gets there last has to buy the other group's drinks! The guys always win!" Namine shouted angrily.

"Huh? No way! I barely have any money left!" Teirra suddenly kicked it into high gear and rushed past everyone else.

"I didn't know Teirra could run that fast." Olette said, voiced everyone's thoughts.

* * *

><p>"Go Teirra! Beat those guys!" The girls shouted as Teirra came closer and closer to the beach. She looked over to see Sora in lead of the boys, he was at the same distance as Teirra.<p>

They caught each other's eye and each ran faster and faster, getting closer and closer. Suddenly-

_BAM!_

The two collided at full strength. You could practically see a small crater forming around them as they both slumped to the ground, gripping their heads in pain.

"Ow... damn it, oh! Teirra, you okay?" Sora asked hurriedly, she looked at him and he gasped; he had given her a black eye.

"I'm fine Sora, really. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" It turns out she gave him a large bruise on his cheek that was already showing, he shook his head. "Um... what're you staring at?" She asked nervously.

Eventually both groups finally reached the two on the ground. "Guys, are you two okay? I... oh boy." Roxas sighed and slapped his forehead. Axel merely pointed and laughed.

"Oh my god! You guys are perfect! Dude, he gave you a black eye!" He continued to laugh loudly, soon enough he had fallen to the ground clutching his sides.

"I do?" Teirra asked, mainly to Sora and he nodded.

"I'm sorry!" He cried out.

"Whoa Sora, it's okay, we kinda had it coming anyway." She giggled slightly and so did Sora.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said, their faces were so close to each other. Their cheeks reddened slightly and they smiled nervously.

Hayner suddenly popped up in between the two, angering them, but they didn't dare show it.

"So guys, who's buying?" He asked, utterly clueless. They all looked to each other, making a silent agreement and turned back to Hayner.

"You."

* * *

><p><strong>Gotta love them black eyes and special moment interceptions, you gotta.<strong>

**Anyway, if anyone is still reading this but won't say anything, please do! Reviews make me happy! **

**...no? Fne, eh, I tried.**

**See you next Sunday!**


	8. A Beach Is Worth a Thousand Words

**Finally got the next chapter up. Sorry I didn't update yesterday, I've been a little busy with some famiily in town and my friend's photography project. But that stuff's all done so...**

**On with the chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**A Beach Is Worth a Thousand Words**

After what seemed like forever, in reality only about five minutes, the group had finally set up their spot on the beach. All now in their swimsuits as well.

Sora had sea blue swim trunks, Riku's were black, Hayner's a forest camo. He had to change last because of the dreaded "drink duty," Olette had assisted him when she changed though.

Roxas's trunks were a light brown color, while Axel's were a fiery red, and finally, Hope's were a light orange color.

The girls were put in charge of finding a spot and putting the blankets and towels in place, while the guys were responsible for putting in the umbrellas, making sure they stayed in place.

"Come on Hope! What're you waiting for?" Vanille pulled the blushing boy toward the water happily, obviously not seeing the redness creeping up to his face.

"Alright, alright I'm coming! Let's go!" He finally decided to be in the lead and raced her to the water. Roxas and Namine already swimming about in deeper waters.

Kairi, Riku, Olette, and Hayner were playing volley ball, the girls against the boys, and so far they appeared to be neck to neck as their scores were drawn in the sand, revealing an equal amount of points on each side.

Teirra decided not to take place in the beach activities and merely sat under an umbrella, drawing the scenery. Apparently Namine had already done so while Hayner was on drink duty, her sketchbook rested next to her clothes where she could easily find it.

Teirra winced as her tattooed arm began to sting again. What did Fang say to do if it hurt again?

_"Maybe just put some ice on it or soak it in water."_

_Right, well ice is out of the question, and water means..._ She looked to the ocean and shook her head. _Great, water everywhere, never mind._

She ignored her small pain for the moment and held up her arm to look upon the bracelet Sora had given her. _Friendship bracelet, right. _She sighed. Suddenly a spiky brunette colored head popped in her vision from out of nowhere.

"Hello~!" Sora said cheerfully. Teirra yelped and fell backwards onto the blanket.

"Where the heck did you come from?" She asked, trying to regain her composure, Sora merely stayed where he stood, looking at her upside down, he was wearing his bracelet still as well, and laughed.

"Well Hayner somehow managed to forget yours and my drinks, so I had to go get them and bring them here myself." He smiled and Teirra nodded and took her lemonade from him after she sat back up.

"Wait, I thought you didn't bring any money with you." He sat next to her and drank his Dr. Pepper. "Yeah well, Axel won't mind if his wallet's a little lighter than he thought." He said coolly and smirked as Teirra laughed.

She paused. "Speaking of Axel, where is he? Fang's missing too."

"AHH! Shark attack! Save me Namine!" The two looked over to find Roxas half-swimming and half-jumping frantically into Namine's arms while being chased by two sharks. Namine nearly sank from the extra weight.

The two sharks suddenly rose above the water, causing Roxas to scream like a little girl while Namine somehow kept a straight face. The 'sharks' revealed themselves to be Axel and Fang with fake shark fins tied to their heads and grinning.

Roxas's jaw dropped, he quickly got off of Namine, who was giggling uncontrollably, to prevent further embarrassment.

Axel and Fang high-fived in victory.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh. Vanille and Hope even fell backwards into the water from laughing so hard, the others stopped their game to laugh at Roxas' expense. Even Sora, his own brother, joined in with Teirra and everyone else.

"Hey, do you not like the water or something?" Sora asked, soon enough, the laughter had subsided, Roxas resorted to swimming with the water stopping at his nose with Namine trying to make him feel better.

"Huh?" Teirra asked.

"Well you haven't even gone near it and you look like you're actually glaring at the water. What gives? Aren't there beaches in Twilight Town?"

"O-Oh, well uh, you see..." Teirra's trailed off, she rubbed her arm and looked away in embarrassment, a blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Aww, c'mon. You can tell me." Sora smirked and nudged her side playfully, he knew where this was going, obviously.

"I can't, uh..." She mumbled.

"Yeah? Come on. Say it already!"

"I CAN'T SWIM OKAY?" She shouted, covering her mouth immediately as she got weird stares from random passersby. She buried her now beet-red face in her hands before Sora pulled them away, smiling as usual.

They could hear a laughing Fang falling in the water.

* * *

><p>"That's right, one leg in front of the other, same with your arms. Come on Teirra, you can do this."<p>

Teirra attempted to do so on her own, making her way to Sora, who volunteered to teach her how to swim. Only she was going slower than she'd hoped; and sinking even slower.

"How long do you think it'll be before these two admit their feelings?" Riku asked to Axel, who was drinking his Sprite with joy.

"I give 'em until the end of the day, you?" He asked.

"I'm thinking never, they're too chicken." Riku said, annoyed.

"How about we make a bet?" Axel asked, setting his Sprite down.

"Whoever loses has to wear any costume the winner chooses for the rest of the day, no matter how stupid. Deal?" Riku extended his hand to seal the deal.

"Deal." Challenge accepted.

"Hey Sora! Where should I put these?" Sora turned, seeing Roxas holding his and Teirra's drinks.

"Just put them next to Teirra's sketchbook or something!" He yelled back and turned around again, to find her gone.

"Teirra?" He looked down to find bubbles rising, and a familiar reddish-brunette struggling underwater.

"Oh my god!"

_SPLASH_

* * *

><p>After saving Teirra from her sinking fate, she, Sora, and everyone else had gathered together back on the soft beach sand. It was getting dark out, so Axel, being the pyromaniac he is, decides to build himself a fire.<p>

Although it was a little difficult, seeing as he was now in a giant pink bubbly costume, courtesy of Riku.

"Aww! I never even learned how to swim..." Teirra pouted.

"Don't worry Teirra, there's always next time, right?" Sora said, laughing nervously and patted her on the back. Teirra nodded.

Soon enough Axel had a massive pile of wood he gathered from who-knows-where and pulled out his trusty flamethrower.

"Where the hell did he get that?" Riku asked shakily, voicing everyone's thoughts and emotions as Axel switched it on. _Speaking of hell... _Teirra thought.

He laughed evilly as the flames engulfed the wood, suddenly becoming a dancing hellfire.

"Yes, yes! Burn baby burn!" Axel yelled as he started dancing. Although some of the dancing embers managed to reach his costume; which was now on fire.

"Hot! Hot! Hot! OHMYGODGETITOFFDAMNIT!" He yelled, running frantically and pulling on his costume as Roxas doused him with a fire extinguisher.

Kairi cleared her throat. "Anyways, moving on. Hey Teirra, did you bring your camera with you?" She asked and Teirra nodded.

"Of course." She smiled as she pulled it out of her bag. Kairi clapped her hands.

"Great! How about we all take a group picture to look back on the day?" She suggested and everyone nodded.

"We could make copies too so everybody could have one." Olette said happily and Kairi nodded.

"Exactly, it's perfect! And Teirra, it'll be the perfect picture for that frame Namine and Roxas gave you too!" She exclaimed and the couple agreed as Roxas returned, extinguisher in hand.

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's do this already." Axel came up behind Hope, seemingly recovered from his fiery episode and scaring the daylights out of him. His hair was still red, of course, but the ends were now black and charred. The bubble costume now melted in several places.

"Damn it Axel! That thing was a rental!" Riku yelled as Axel raised his hands over his face in defense. "Well then don't pick a costume that sticks out so freakin' much!" He yelled back.

The argument went on for a while, eventually the group quickly got together in a line, with Axel holding the camera.

Fang and Vanille were at the ends of the line, with Hope next to Vanille. Hayner and Olette were next to Fang, Riku and Kairi next to Hope, Roxas and Namine next to Olette, both couples hand- in-hand with each other. And in the middle was Teirra and Sora, Teirra next to Namine and Sora next to Riku, with their arms over each others' shoulders.

"Ok! Ready in, 1, 2, 3-" Axel was cut off by Roxas.

"Wait! 1, 2, 3 or 1, 2, 3, cheese?" He asked innocently as Axel slapped his forehead.

"What do you think it is?" He asked irritably.

"1, 2, 3 cheese?"

"Good boy, now. 1, 2, 3, sea salt!" Axel held up the camera and clicked it just as he was able to get in the shot himself.

"Sea salt!"

"Wait, wha-!"

Roxas' face caught in mid-word was now to be seen on every copy that would be made.

_FLASH_

"And that, my friends, is how you mess with Roxie."

* * *

><p><strong>Crap. I just realized I forgot about Teirra's black eye and Sora's bruised face wen I made this chapter. Oh well. *is too lazy to fix it*<strong>

**pshh well, read&review! See ya next Sunday(or whatever day it is for you guys when I update this)!**


	9. Seeing Double

**Alright, next chapter! I'm glad some people liked last chapter(only one said anything but still, it counts), I just realized I have no idea how long this story's gonna be. I'm working on 17 right now but I'm kinda(not completely) winging it as I go along.**

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

**Seeing Double**

"Do it."

"No."

"Just do it."

"I don't want to."

"Don't make me do it for you."

"What? Come on! ... Fine."

Sora smiled as Teirra took a sandwich from him reluctantly and took a bite out of it. Because of the vow he made to himself to get her back to her normal weight again, he'd been making her eat something every chance he got. It got on Teirra's nerves occasionally, especially when he threatened to feed her himself, but he had good intentions so she didn't voice her complaints too often.

They were half way through their lunch break when Namine suddenly pulled out her phone with a wide grin.

"Attention people! Mine and Teirra's art project was officially completed today!" She shouted as she went to the picture on her phone she had gotten of their drawing today. Apparently she liked showing all of her drawings to her friends.

And since their teacher had a habit of keeping Namine's drawings, Teirra's and Hayner's drawings now too, she'd always take a picture of them with her phone when they were finished and show the group of friends the first chance she'd get.

The picture consisted of the bird cage Teirra drew and a girl sitting on the perch hanging from the top with a distant look on her face- only her eyes were closed- with her reddish-brown locks covering parts of her face.

On the outside of the cage was a spiky-haired brunette boy trying to open the cage, also with his eyes closed as well.

Namine glanced at Sora and Teirra from across the table as they both looked at the drawing, everyone else who had seen it sharing a knowing glance with each other, they knew who the people were in the drawing.

Riku and Axel were on the edge of their seats as Sora eventually put down Namine's phone and closed it. He smiled and looked at Teirra.

"It looks great! One question though." He said and Teirra nodded, signaling him to continue. "How'd you get the ideas for the people?"

The two boys faceplanted the table, shaking it slightly, and groaned loudly.

"You've got to be kidding me. Even _I_ get it." Hayner muttered as he smacked his forehead, Olette giggled and patted his head in understanding.

"Well Namine's the one who came up with them actually, but...," Teirra's trailed off, she did think that the boy looked eerily like Sora, but she couldn't place where her blonde friend had gotten the ideas for the girl.

"But what?" He asked, the two completely oblivious to the rest of their friends' agitation with them.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

_Better change the subject before peoples' heads start exploding._ Roxas thought as he sighed. He turned to Kairi.

"So how do you guys think you did on the duet today?" He asked, he was there, but anything to keep the dark auras emanating off their friend down.

"Huh? Oh yeah! I think we did pretty good actually!" Kairi replied, understanding.

"The teacher gave you guys extra time because of what happened right?" Riku said, looking to Teirra, who frowned slightly.

She recovered rather quickly this time. "Yeah, he did, I didn't do very great though. I missed a few notes." She laughed nervously and scratched her head, putting on a fake smile. No one seemed to notice.

Kairi gasped. "Teirra, you did awesome! I don't think there were any notes you missed at all!"

Teirra's face went red with embarrassment. "N-No, I'm not that good, really." She stuttered.

Suddenly the bell rang, and Kairi dropped the subject. Sora, however, decided to press on.

"Can I hear you sing sometime?" He asked, smiling as usual.

"B-But I'm not even that good. I-I mean, I've never sang for anyone before, I uh..." Teirra blushed, the group of friends parted ways to go to their final class, the two couples not far behind Teirra and Sora.

"Aww, come on, please?" He gave her the puppy dog pout. Teirra turned away from him. She couldn't say no to that face, but she didn't want to say yes either.

"Uh... maybe some time." She said nervously, he grinned. Sora paused. _Wait a second..._

"Hey Teirra! You didn't even finish your lunch! Get back here!"

* * *

><p>"Hey Teirra?" Sora turned from his work and looked at her.<p>

"Hm?" She looked up at him.

"Why don't we rehearse after school today? Go to your place or something." He said, they never seemed to get very far doing it here at school, the bell or their teacher always interrupted.

"Sure why not. But we're always at my place, why don't we go somewhere else for a change?" She suggested, smiling. Sora went into a thinking pose, the park? No, they'd get stared at and it'd be even more awkward. Oh, what about...

"Okay, how about we uh... go to my house then?" He said, slightly nervous. She stared at him, his house? She never even considered the thought that he'd suggest it. The idea of being in his home, in his room, just the two of them...

_Oh God._ Teirra blushed fiercely and quickly shoved the thoughts away. She nodded absent-mindedly. "Y-Yeah, sure." She inwardly cursed herself for stuttering. Luckily, Sora didn't seem to notice.

"Alright, awesome!" He said happily. He couldn't wait for class to be over now.

* * *

><p>"Alright. See you guys tomorrow!" Sora guided Teirra in the direction toward his home. Roxas and Namine always took turns going to each other's houses every day. Apparently, today was Roxas' turn, seeing as they weren't far behind the two.<p>

Sora turned to wave goodbye to the rest of their friends, seeing Axel do a pelvic thrust in his direction. He glared at the red head before flipping him off when Teirra wasn't looking.

She was too busy to notice anyway.

_I'm going to his house. I'm going to his house. OHGODI'MGOINGTOHISFREAKINGHOUSE._

She shook her head furiously, earning a confused glance from Sora.

_No, it's not that bad. After all, Roxas and Namine are coming too right? It'll be fine._

"Oh yeah, hey Sora! Me and Namine gotta get something from her place right now okay? We might be a little while." Roxas said, turning himself and his beloved in the other direction.

"Huh? O-Oh, okay, see you later then." Sora's face seemed to redden slightly as he watched his brother go. He's just as nervous- if not more so- as Teirra was.

_Oh God, someone better be home when we get there or it'd make it even more awkward._ Sora thought, running a hand through his hair.

Soon enough, the two reached his home. Teirra could hear yelling, crashing noises, the sound of feet running against hard floors, she inwardly sighed in relief. People were here after all.

"Here we are, by the way, don't let them freak you out." He sighed as he opened the door.

Only to be greeted by two older boys running back and forth, arguing. Teirra gasped, they looked exactly like Sora and Roxas! Older, but still.

The Sora clone was angrily chasing the Roxas clone, who seemed to keeping a magazine of some sort out of the Sora clone's hands.

The Sora clone was definitely taller than the other Sora, his hair was jet black and he had golden eyes that seemed to give off the impression that he could be a serial killer or something. He wore a short sleeve black t-shirt and dark jeans.

The Roxas clone merely looked like an older version of Roxas, taller, but same spiky blonde hair, same blue eyes. He wore a gray flannel shirt, the sleeves rolled up, with a black t-shirt underneath and had light brown cargo pants.

"Gimme that back Ven! It's mine damn it!" The Sora clone growled, still chasing the Roxas clone, or 'Ven,' as he called him.

"No way Vani! All you wanna do is look at all the naked girls and-"

"You might want to stop there." Sora cleared his throat as the two looked at him, seeing Teirra next to the brunette with a red face. Just what kind of magazines does this guy read?

The two boys froze in place and looked at the girl, embarrassed smiles on their faces as they stood straight.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Sora asked.

The Sora clone was the first to speak. "Sorry about that Sora, Ven here just thought it'd be a good idea to steal my literature." He said, snatching the smutty magazine from 'Ven' and smacking him in the hea with it when he rolled it up.

"Ow! You call that literature? It's por-" He was cut off when the Sora clone covered his mouth with his hand. "Now now, don't say things like that with a younger audience, Venny." He growled, a creepy smile present on his face.

"We're not that much younger you know." Sora said, annoyed. Teirra just sat by and watched, utterly lost. Sora cleared his throat again. "Anyways, Teirra, I'd you to meet mine and Roxas' older brothers. They're twins too actually. That's Vanitas," He pointed to the Sora clone, who waved. "And that's Ventus." He said, pointing to the Roxas clone.

"You can just call me Ven, by the way. It's easier that way, ya know?" He said, grinning.

"Oh, uh, right. I-It's very nice to meet you!" Teirra said hurriedly, bowing slightly. The older twins stared at her with an amused expression.

"Well isn't she polite. I like that in a girl." Vanitas said, walking over to Teirra.

"Wh-Wha? No I-"

"It's fine, I'm kidding. So you're the Teirra we heard so much about. Little Sora here got lucky with this one." He laughed, Teirra blushed madly. _Huh?_

"Vanitas! I already told you it's not like that!" Sora whined, a blush also evident on his face.

"Aw it's okay Sora! We understand how hard it is for you to admit your feelings to a girl." Ventus whispered as he put an arm over his younger brother's shoulder, who choked on air.

"No I-"

"Yeah yeah I know, 'It's not like that!'" Ventus mocked and laughed as Sora huffed angrily and crossed his arms.

Teirra giggled, the brothers argued quite a bit it seemed, but it showed how well they got along, it must be nice to have a family like this.

"So what're you doing over here? School work right?" Vanitas asked, Teirra nodded.

"Yup, we're practicing for our English project." She said. Vanitas smirked.

"Oh really? What is this project exactly? What're you two doing?" He asked.

"Well, its-"

"No Teirra! Don't tell them anything!" Sora yelled dramatically, covering Teirra's mouth to keep her from saying any more. Her voice came out angry and muffled.

"Aww! Come on Sora! You won't tell us anything! We wanna know!" Ventus whined.

"No way! We were heading upstairs anyway, we're practicing in my room! And DON'T come in!" Sora yelled, pulling Teirra up the stairs quickly before his older twins could do any more damage.

He pulled the girl upstairs, the older twins heard the door lock from the inside.

"Well, I can't say I didn't see that one coming." Ventus huffed.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm gonna go read some literature." Vanitas said, unrolling his "literature" that Ventus had taken before and turned to a page, due to certain images had to be censored for Ventus' eyes.

"For the last time that's not literature!"

* * *

><p><strong>Oh I love Vanitas and Ventus. I always pictured Vanitas to be the pervy type, yknow?<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it! Read & review and I'll see you next week!**


	10. Realization

**Ok so I'm really sorry it took me so long to update! My internet's been broken and it only got fixed last night.**

**Although it seems like nobody's read the last chapter yet so I guess I'm in the clear, great..I guess.**

**Anyway, on with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

**Realization**

Teirra was suddenly flung into Sora's room, hearing the brunette lock the door from behind her. She turned around just as Sora sighed in relief and sunk to the floor, leaning against the door.

"Um... should I know what that was about?" She asked cautiously. He looked up at her.

"They don't know what we're exactly doing for the project. If they knew it was Romeo and Juliet, let alone that the scene we're doing involves a kiss, I'd never hear the end of it from those two." He chuckled nervously and stood back up.

"Oh, um, okay. And what about locking the door?" Sora saw that the act made Teirra uncomfortable and put his hands up in defense.

"Oh, it's nothing bad really! It's just, they'd be barging in every five minutes while we practiced, you know how brothers are, right?" He said, realizing what it was he said, he instantly regretted it.

Teirra frowned and shook her head. "Oh, right um... sorry." He said, bowing his head slightly.

She shook her head again. "It's okay." She muttered, he looked back up at her. She pulled out her phone.

"Now that I think about it... I should probably tell Lightning and Squall where I am so they don't freak out or anything." A fake laugh, a fake smile. Sora could easily see through them as she pressed a series of buttons on her phone before closing it and putting it on Sora's desk.

Teirra may not have had any siblings to begin with, but the mention of any sort of family member seemed to bring back memories of her home. Sora wanted to ask her what Twilight Town was like, what it's like to be from a wealthy family, what kind of school she used to go to. Maybe someday when she'd open up to him more.

Teirra played with the hem of her skirt, the silence was unbearable to say the least. "So, should we start practicing?" She said cautiously, Sora nodded quickly.

"Right, sure! Wait... oh crap I left my backpack downstairs, I'll be right back. Do you want a drink or anything?" He had to remember to at least be a good host while Teirra was here. She stared at him, thinking.

"I'll just get something simple, be right back!" He said, going out the door and closing it.

Teirra sat on the edge of his bed, the covers were navy blue with white sheets underneath. The walls were another shade a blue as well, only lighter. The desk was next to Sora's nightstand, which was next to his bed. On his desk was a fairly large computer, some pictures and other little trinkets which he had gathered throughout the years.

The room was surprisingly neat, the way Sora was, Teirra figured he'd be one of those guys who didn't care what their room looked like as long as they could still live in it. Not one shirt or sock laying carelessly on the ground, not even a stain from paint or a spilled drink. Absolutely spotless.

Teirra smiled as she stood from his bed and walked over to the desk, seeing his copy of the group photo everyone had gotten the day they went to the beach. It was already in a frame of its own, much like the one Teirra had in her own room.

She heard footsteps echoing through the hallway through the door. Teirra looked up, seeing Sora in the open doorway, two bottles of water and his backpack in hand.

"Well? Let's get started." He said, grinning.

* * *

><p>The two pulled out their scripts, and began reciting their lines. Although, whenever they would reach the first kiss, time would stop.<p>

They were now in the middle of time slowing down.

After an hour, Sora eventually stopped pretending to be poisoned and staggering around like he was dying, he would slowly walk up to Teirra, or Juliet, trying to get the first kiss out of the way. It wasn't that they were disgusted by the thought of kissing each other, deep down, they knew they both wanted to do it. They just weren't aware of it.

After what seemed like forever, the two finally backed away from each other.

"How are we going to do this scene if we can't even get half way through it?" Teirra sighed, hiding the blush that was creeping onto her face.

"I have no idea, let's just start from the top again, okay?" Sora said, whose face also had a red hue to his cheeks.

They stood in their previous places and started over, having fought back the redness creeping onto their faces.

Meanwhile...

"Aww! They messed up again! They were so close that time too."

"They'll never get this done, I swear. Come on Nami, I wanna see their faces."

"Here you go baby." Namine smiled, handing Roxas a pair of binoculars, the couple only went to Namine's house to get them so they could watch Teirra and Sora from a distance on a tree near the brunette's window. Roxas preferred to call it 'the observation of Moronus Soranus,' though it was really more like just being nosy.

"Do you have to use those stupid nicknames around us? Now?" Vanitas growled.

"What? Aww, does little Vani have nickname issues?" Ventus teased, poking his twin's face repeatedly.

"Shut up Ven. I only came because you stole my literature again."

"What're you guys even doing here? I thought you were trying to break into Sora's room." Roxas asked, giving the binoculars back to Namine.

"Eh. Got bored, besides, this is much easier than a B and E." Vanitas said coolly.

"Bacon and eggs?" Ventus asked, Vanitas sighed, looking annoyed.

"Yes Ven, bacon and eggs. No dummy, breaking and entering." He said, hitting his twin in the head with his soda can, taking another sip.

"Oh my gosh! Something's happening!" Namine squealed.

"What is it?" Roxas asked, taking the binoculars from her. "Oh my god! He's got her pinned on the bed!"

Both of the blonde brothers suddenly got doused by soda being spewed from Vanitas' mouth.

"Are you serious? Lemme see!" He yelled, snatching the binoculars from Roxas, sharing one of the eye holes with Ventus. "Oh this is what I've been waiting for!" Vanitas said, a goofy grin spread across his face.

"I thought you were only here because Ven stole your 'literature.'" Roxas said, twisting his hair in his hands trying to get the soda out.

"No way man! I came for some entertainment." He laughed.

Roxas wasn't kidding.

Teirra's small form was indeed on Sora's bed, his arms pinning her down, their faces beet red and lips mere inches apart.

* * *

><p>From their spot on the tree, it seemed like Sora was making a move on Teirra, when in reality, well, it's obvious isn't it?<p>

Sora was walking back and forth around his room, reciting his lines perfectly while Teirra watching next to his bed, leaning on the frame.

Somewhere halfway through his line, he managed to trip over nothing, sending him crashing towards Teirra. She yelped as he fell on her, sending her falling onto his bed, Sora flung his arms in front of him to keep himself from falling on her again.

Thus, resulting in the scene you see before you.

The two were frozen, time had stopped again, only not from acting this time. They gazed into each other's eyes, blue into brown, neither straying away. Their lips so close, Sora could feel Teirra's quick, uneven breaths tickle his face.

_What do I do? What should I do?_ Sora thought, furious with himself for being so clumsy.

After what seemed like forever, only about five minutes really, Sora slowly moved his arms off of Teirra's, pushing himself back up and off the bed. Teirra slowly sat up, she put her hand to her mouth, suddenly feeling queasy.

"Um... s-sorry, about that." Sora said, his voice quiet. Teirra slowly shook her head.

"GOD DAMN IT!" An angry voice yelled, reaching the brunettes' ears, Teirra looked out the window just as the group on the tree ducked for cover.

_Was that Vanitas?_ She was looking directly at the tree where they once sat, but she couldn't focus on anything in her sight.

Sora looked over his shoulder and turned to face her, ignoring his angry brother's voice for the time being. Teirra turned toward Sora slowly, they both looked into each other's eyes, each replaying the moment in their head.

What was that? Normally if something like that happened, the people would merely laugh at it and say it was an accident. Why weren't they doing the same?

Teirra suddenly shot up from Sora's bed, startling the boy as she seemed to gather her things in a flash. Putting her phone in her pocket and putting her shoes on in mere seconds. "I should go." She muttered, just loud enough for Sora to hear her.

He watched as she rushed past him, her bangs covering her eyes, as soon as her was running down the stairs Sora rushed after her.

"Teirra! Wait, I-" He made it downstairs fast enough only to have the door slam in his face, his hand reaching to the girl that was no longer there. The small crowns and stars on his friendship bracelet glistening in the sunlight leaking from the window.

What just happened? Why did his heart suddenly stop when his and Teirra's faces were so close? Why did she run away?

Why did he feel like he wanted to kiss her for real?

Sora's breath hitched at the thought, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed, staring at the door. He looked down, suddenly realization hit him like a lead weight.

_Have I... fallen for Teirra?_

* * *

><p>"Aw man. So much for visual literature." Vanitas said, a gloomy look on his face as the group watched Teirra run away from the Hikari home.<p>

"Oh shut up Vani." Ventus sighed.

Teirra ran blindly down the road, tears stinging her eyes, blinding her even more. She stopped after a while, rubbing her eyes, she found herself in a park.

There was an empty bench not too far away from her, she steadily made her way to it, placing her backpack next to her as she sat down. She brought her knees close to her chest, bringing her arms around them and burying her face in between her knees.

She bit her lip as she fought back the tears threatening to return, now feeling a warm trickle of blood running down her chin from her lip.

Embarrassment, fear, sadness, she was overcome with negative emotions.

Embarrassment because of running away from Sora, it was a stupid idea and she knew it.

Fear for what would now become of them, would Sora hate her now? Would he now avoid her forever?

Sadness because Sora pulled away... wait, what? Shouldn't she want him to pull away? _Unless..._

Something else suddenly overcame her, it was... realization?

Teirra lifted her head from between her knees and looked up into the sky. She held out her tattooed arm that had the friendship bracelet on it, the small crowns and hearts glistening in the sun. Her eyes widened.

_Have I... fallen for Sora?_

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, took 'em long enough! <strong>**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**

**Omg Anime Vegas is this weekend! I'm so excited! I've got both of my Kairi cosplays rarin' to go! This is my first time cosplaying at all and my friends told me I might get mobbed or something. o_o**

**I'm kinda nervous, but I might as well have fun while I'm at it, besides, if they try anything I can always just break out of character and beat their asses. ;D**

**Anyway, read & review! And now, I'm gonna go blow something up.**


	11. Attack Of the Rumor Spreaders

**Sorry I'm a day late, this last weekend was soo busy! Yet fun, I went to Anime Vegas with my friends, I wore both my Kairi cosplays and actually got asked for a lot of pictures! Yaay~**

**It was my first time cosplaying so I was really nervous, that and my shoes from the normal Kairi cosplay pretty much murdered my ankles, there's blood in one of the shoes now. ;**

**Anyway, on with the next chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

**Attack of the Rumor Spreaders**

"Hey, isn't that the new girl? The one Sora hangs out with?"

"I saw them walking to his house the other day, she looked awfully happy."

"That bitch, I heard she forced him on the bed and everything."

"I think she's using that 'my family is gone' thing to get whatever she wants out of him."

"I can't believe she'd do something like that."

Teirra ignored the stares and words aimed toward her as she walked through the hallway. Her bangs covered her eyes, she clenched her fists, resisting the urge to punch every single one of the people badmouthing her and her best friend.

If this kind of thing was going around campus about them, Sora would be in trouble too, even though the rumors were mostly about just how "awful" Teirra apparently is.

Ever since that day at Sora's house when she ran off, the two had been avoiding each other, hoping to escape any awkwardness. They realized their feelings for each other, that they were in love with each other, but neither of them knows that the other feels the same way.

Axel watched the deeply upset and confused reddish brunette venture down the hall.

"This isn't good at all. How do these people even know she went to his house the other day?" He frowned.

"Maybe Sora had a fan girl that followed them or something?" Hope suggested, the group of friends had been known to attract attention from time to time. Both for their looks and any of their talents, it was creepy to be honest, but they learned to deal with it. Teirra hadn't just yet.

"That's always a possibility, fan girls are brutal. We have to do something about this." Fang said, glaring at the rumor spreading students, who backed away fearfully and ran away.

"We could always beat them up," Axel said blankly. "Or at least the one responsible for spreading the rumor." Namine and Roxas had already told the group what really happened right when the rumors started to spread, of course they told them when Sora and Teirra weren't around.

"But I thought you didn't beat up girls." Vanille said, narrowing her eyes but still managed to smile like always.

"Who's to say it's a girl?" Axel said, crossing his arms.

"Uh... well I guess that's always a possibility." Hope said.

A small group of students walked by them. "Dude you can't be serious! No way!" One boy said, laughing.

"Yes way! No joke, I followed Sora and that puny slut to his house and I totally saw her push him around and everything!" The boy in the middle said, smirking.

"Fucking guys." Fang growled, being held back by Axel.

"Hang on a second Fang. You can't just rush in, follow my lead." Axel smirked.

"Wait a minute, guys. I don't think this is a good idea." Hope said nervously, but Fang and Axel were already making their way toward the students.

"What're you talkin' about? It's a great idea," Axel cleared his throat. "Hey guys! Care to spare a minute?" He said, the boys turned around.

"What do you want?" The boy in the middle growled, crossing his arms.

"Hey, hey. It's no big. We just wanna talk." Fang smirked, both her and Axel cracking their knuckles. The boys gulped nervously.

"Oh shit."

* * *

><p>Sora made his way down the hallway, clutching the straps of his backpack in despair. How did all this happen? Where did these rumors come from?<p>

How was he going to get Teirra to speak to him ever again?

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard soft music begin playing in the music room. It sounded like a guitar, he then heard a voice accompany the instrument.

_If you be my star, I'll be your sky_

_You can hide underneath me and come out at night_

_When I turn jet black, and you show off your light_

_I live to let you shine_

_I live to let you shine_

The voice was soft, angelic, it was beautiful. Not one missed pitch. He paused, not moving from where he was standing as he listened to the voice as it continued.

_But you can skyrocket away, from me_

_And never come back if you find another galaxy_

_Far from here, with more room to fly_

_Just leave me your stardust to remember you by_

He inched closer to the door as the voice continued.

_If you be my boat, I'll be your sea_

_A depth of pure blue just to probe curiosity_

_Ebbing and flowing and pushed by a breeze_

_I live to make you free_

_I live to make you free_

He was now in front of the door, it was cracked open slightly, he tried to see inside from the window on the door, resisting the urge to sigh in frustration when he found it was covered by black paper. He put his ear to the door as the voice continued yet again.

_But you can set sail to the west if you want to_

_And past the horizon, till I can't even see you_

_Far, from here, where the beaches are wide_

_Just leave me your wake to remember you by_

The voice paused longer than earlier, he saw this as his chance as he gripped the handle of the door. He held his breath and swung the door open. His eyes widened when he saw who was holding the now silent guitar.

"Teirra...?" He was speechless, he had a feeling she was good like Kairi said, but her voice was perfect, _she_ was perfect.

"O-Oh, Sora... What're you doing here?" She asked, her voice seemed quieter than normal, like she didn't want anyone to hear her. She got up and swung the guitar off her shoulders.

"Well I was, just passing by when I heard you singing so... I thought I'd take a look." He replied he knew it'd be awkward when they spoke, but the air was so thick with awkwardness you cut right through it with a knife.

"You're really good." He said, looking at Teirra as she put the guitar back in its original place.

She shook her head. "Not really. I'm not that good at all." She said mechanically, Sora frowned.

"What do you mean? You're amazing Teirra! You could go places with a voice like that." He said, taking a step toward her, she took a step back. This puzzled Sora greatly, what was she doing? Did the incident at his house bother her that much?

"Teirra, what's wrong? What happened then... do you not want to be near me anymore?" He voiced his thoughts cautiously, hurt etched into his voice, Teirra quickly shook her head.

"No, it's not that, really. It's just... it's nothing, forget it." Her voice was louder this time, her hands placed over her chest.

"I won't just drop it you know. Please tell me." He pressed on, she let her hands drop to her sides. She sighed.

"Are you sure you even want to be seen with me?" She clenched her fists, her voice going back to the way it was when Sora walked in, he frowned.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors. What everyone thinks I did to you. What they think I am and what I'm doing. Why would anyone- especially you- want to be seen with the person who everyone thinks is the school slut?" Teirra turned and collecting her backpack and other things and walked out the door, her bangs covering her eyes again.

Sora rushed out after her, already finding his target halfway down the hallway. _Damn, she's fast_. He took a few clumsy first steps before steadying himself and running after her, catching the stares of random students he passed.

"Teirra, wait!" He called out, reaching his hand out to her, but all she did was speed up slightly. They both paused, only about a yard apart. The whispers had started again.

"There they go again. God, what'd she do to him now?"

"It's terrible, she just has him wrapped around her finger with that 'I'm all alone' card."

"Jeez, talk about selfish."

Sora looked around him, finding the stares burning into his and Teirra's bodies. His eyes rested on Teirra's back, since she wouldn't even turn around, seeing she was shaking. He heard slight sniffles coming from her, he growled, he'd had enough of this.

His right hand balled into a fist, he looked toward the rumor spreader closest to him and sent his hand rocketing toward the boy's face.

The kid didn't even know what hit him as he was sent flying to the ground several feet away from the angered brunette.

"You bastards...," He growled. "Leave my friend alone!"

Teirra immediately turned to face the scene unfolding before the crowd, tears brimming her eyes. Her eyes widened, she had no idea Sora had a violent side, and honestly, it scared her a little.

"She never did anything! We never did anything! Mind your own god damn business!" Sora yelled angrily, raising his fist to punch the other boy. But a pair of hands pulled his arm to stop him.

He rounded to whoever stopped him, prepared to hurt them through his blind fury. He froze when he saw those familiar chocolate brown eyes, sparkling with tears that were nearly gone, that belonged only to his reddish brunette friend.

"Teirra...? What're you doing? These guys-" He stopped when he felt her grip on his arm tighten.

"I know. And believe me, I wanted to do the same thing. But it's not right Sora, you know that." Teirra said, she was happy that Sora stood up for her, but she didn't want it to end up like this.

Sora frowned and bowed his head, Teirra was right, this wasn't exactly the best way to solve problems.

The boys he had threatened were long gone, now only the stares of understanding around them remained. "You're right, I'm sorry." He smiled softly, Teirra smiled back at him.

"Well it looks like we both had the same idea." The two turned at the sound of a familiar voice, finding it to be Axel. With Fang, Hope and Vanille in tow. Though Axel and Fang had wide grins on their faces as they threw three unconscious bodies in front of them, startling Teirra and Sora.

"Um... do I need to ask?" Sora said nervously. Teirra looked behind Fang and Axel to Hope, who grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"This guy is the one who spread the rumors about you two, apparently he followed you guys to Sora's place and spied on you. Fucking stalkers, what're you gonna do?" Axel pointed at the boy in the middle accusingly before throwing his arms behind his head.

"We thought we should end it the fun way. And by the looks of it you had the same idea." Fang smiled, pointing at Sora's hand that was stilled balled in a bruised fist. He winced, remembering it as he felt a small stab of pain as Teirra carefully pried his fingers apart so the blood could flow again.

"Although you probably shouldn't do it again." Teirra said, putting his hand back down.

Vanille smiled and clapped her hands together.

"Well, I guess that takes care of our rumor problem."

* * *

><p><strong>I do not own Boats And Birds by Gregory and the Hawk, though it's a very good song, kinda quiet, you should listen to it some time.<strong>

**Anyway, can someone please tell me what the definition of a Mary Sue is, I've heard it before but I never knew what it was exactly.**

**According to someone who reviewed Teirra is a Mary Sue, so can someone help me out here? ;**

**Anyway, read & review, bye for now!**


	12. Lights, Camera Kiss?

**Ok so the last chapter was a bit..iffy, but this one should be better**

**Enjoy**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

**Lights, Camera... Kiss?**

With the Romeo and Juliet project inching closer and closer to its due date, now being only two days away, a certain pair of students were very unprepared and as a result, completely freaking out.

_"What're we gonna do Sora?"_ Teirra yelled over the phone, nearly blowing Sora's ears off.

"Okay Teirra, you're going to break my speakers if you keep doing that." Sora sighed. She'd been doing this the entire time since he called.

_"Sorry."_

_"You gotta relax, we'll figure this out."_ Truth be told, Sora had no idea if that was true or not, they couldn't even get half way through the scene without messing up and having to start over.

"I hope so." Teirra said, doodling in her sketchbook from where she sat on her bed.

She sighed, putting her pencil down and placing her sketchbook next to her. She flinched when she heard a second voice coming from Sora's end.

_"Oi! Sora, where the hell's my literature?"_ She heard Vanitas say sternly. She heard some shuffling and Sora's voice replied.

_"How am I supposed to know where your smut is?" _Sora said, already annoyed at his brother's unscheduled entry.

_"It's not 'smut', it's merely literature giving me knowledge of the sexy female body." _Teirra blushed slightly, he must be joking.

_"And I'd only assumed you'd have it because you want to know more about it because of Teirra."_ She could practically see Vanitas' smirk now as she choked on air and coughed slightly.

The coughing quickly subsided. "Uh, S-Sora? I uh... I-I'll just leave you two alone, bye!" She choked out, cursing herself for stuttering as she closed her phone.

_"Wait Teirra-" BEEP BEEP_

Sora stared at his phone and sighed, his face also beet red from Vanitas' words.

His brother's mouth formed an O. "Oh, that was her on the phone? Oops." Vanitas smirked, his voise dripping with sarcasm. Throwing his hands behind his head, he turned around to leave Sora's room.

"You knew I was talking to her didn't you?" Sora narrowed his eyes at his older brother's back.

"Pretty much, see ya bro." Vanitas shut the door.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Ven threw your smut out the window an hour ago when the sprinklers went on." Sora said loud enough for Vanitas to hear as he resumed his homework.

He heard a thump before an angry shout.

"No! My babies! Damn it Ven!"

* * *

><p>Teirra buried her face into the soft plush that was her stuffed bear in her lap. When she and Sora came home on her birthday, Lightning and Squall had surprisingly given her a medium-sized teddy bear, it was a golden brown color and was incredibly soft. She always played with it when she'd get home from school, despite how childish it sounded.<p>

Teirra lifted her head and turned the bear to face her and started playing with its eyes.

_What am I going to do?_ She was still worried about hers and Sora's project, they had their lines memorized perfectly, but they still couldn't get the kisses out of the way.

Every time they would come close to getting it right, something would always happen to make them stop.

Suddenly it hit her, she could always ask Namine about it, she wouldn't dare talk to Fang though, she'd just make fun of her or something. Teirra turned to her door, smelling something downstairs, apparently dinner was ready.

"Teirra, soup's on!" She heard Squall call to her.

"Coming!"

* * *

><p>"You want to know how to get past the kisses?"<p>

"Yes. Please, Namine, we'll never pass this project if we can't fake a kiss!" Teirra begged, her head bowed and her hands clasped together over her head desperately.

Namine sighed, she didn't want to say it, what was she saying? Of course she wanted to say it, but she wanted them to kiss. Namine knew that Sora and Teirra liked each other, but they were too blind to see it, that was why her and Kairi made them do the final scene for their project, so they could realize they actually liked each other and get together.

Namine mentally facepalmed herself, she couldn't just tell her friend to suck it up and kiss Sora, Teirra would just get mad.

Namine got into her thinking pose, Teirra's eyes lit up in hope. After mere seconds, Namine stood normally again.

"Just put your thumbs on each side of your lips, like this," She demonstrated and Teirra nodded in understanding. "That way it'll look like you're kissing, but you're not really touching each other's lips at all. It's what they do in the movies sometimes." Namine smiled, but mentally punched herself in the face.

Teirra hugged Namine and quickly let go. "Thanks Namine! See you later!" She said happily, saluting a goodbye as she ran to tell Sora the plan.

Namine bowed her head and sighed frustratingly, a dark aura surrounding her. Students passing by got a cold chill and shuddered, steering away from the dreadfully irritated blonde.

She heard a familiar chuckle and felt a hand on her shoulder. Her dark aura quickly dissipated and looked into the blue eyes of her boyfriend.

"Hi honey." She said, smiling.

"Hey Nami, don't freak out. They'll figure it out eventually." Roxas said, smiling back at his beloved.

Namine nodded. "I just hope they do before we're dead." She giggled.

"And look on the bright side," Roxas said, Namine looked at him questioningly. "At least ours are real."

He whispered before kissing her, no thumbs allowed.

* * *

><p>"Okay people! Today's the day to present your work! I want to see some sparks fly!" Their teacher said before taking her place at the back of the classroom, the bell hadn't rung yet, so not everyone was present.<p>

Teirra had explained the plan Namine had told her to Sora, now the two weren't nervous at all... well, for the most part anyway. Namine and Riku were off to the side watching the two, Namine was still annoyed with her own advice, and began tearing at random papers she find, scaring the albino-haired boy.

Hayner and Olette were practicing their lines near the back of the room; away from the teacher, of course. Vanille said her lines loudly off to the other side of the room while Hope's came out quietly and nervously, his face beet red.

As for Fang and Seifer...

All attention was brought to the door as Seifer walked in with the most ridiculous get-up any of them had ever seen. Bright turquoise tight with what looked some goofy-looking shield in the crotch area, very random indeed. He also wore a turquoise shirt with a sort of poof in the shoulders and puffy hat with a huge feather sticking out of it.

All was silent... except for Fang laughing in the background.

"Umm... Seifer?" Sora tried to keep himself from laughing along with everyone else but Fang.

"What?"

"Y-You weren't supposed to d-dress up." No one could hold it any longer, the classroom erupted in laughter as Seifer threw his hat to the ground, making a soft impact anyway.

"Damn it Fang!"

* * *

><p>After any and all laughter subsided, and Seifer changed back into his regular clothes, the presentations began.<p>

Olette made her and Hayner go first by volunteering, being the over achiever she is since volunteers got extra credit.

They chose to do the ever so famous window scene. You know, "Oh Romeo. Oh Romeo. Where fore art thou, Romeo?" That one.

Needless to say Olette definitely made Hayner practice more than fifty times, they went through it effortlessly, they passed obviously. Their faces were red when they sat down, maybe from embarrassment of being in front of all the others, but there was most likely something else there.

Riku and Namine went next, they just chose the opening with Romeo and friends discussing how Romeo got dumped by his old girlfriend. Although they threw in a few jokes here and there at Riku's expense. They passed as well.

Vanille and Hope were next up. And judging by their choice, it was obvious Vanille chose it, not aware of Hope's nervousness, they performed the marriage scene. Despite his nervousness, though Hope was in heaven. He liked Vanille, like..._ like_ liked her. So it went by very smoothly, they passed too.

Now Seifer and Fang were up. And being who they were, they chose a more violent scene, like, when someone dies. Fang was Romeo, so of course she "lived," and Seifer played Tybalt, meaning Fang got to "kill" him. And of course, being who they are, they decided to quit the acting and started to beat each other up for real.

It took calling in the super buff football coach to separate them, needless to say they didn't pass with an A, but for some reason the teacher gave them a C for being "determined actors."

And finally... Teirra and Sora were up. They breezed through their lines and the first kiss, some people laughed at Sora's goofy expression when he "died." Teirra went through her lines and got on the ground for the final kiss to almost end the scene when Riku stood to apparently "retrieve something he dropped" that just happened to be near her. He moved his foot slightly to the left, in front of Teirra's knee cautiously.

Namine was on the edge of her seat, she knew what Riku was doing. His foot quickly pushed Teirra's knee backwards, making her slip forward. She flung her hands out in front of her to keep herself from landing on Sora.

The next moment was completely blank.

Her arms had completely missed him, her hands on either side of the floor around Sora's head. Their lips were in actual contact. It wasn't even acting anymore. Teirra and Sora's eyes were flung open and wide, their faces completely red.

It wasn't a bad kiss either, they both realized, it was a good one, no, it was a perfect one. It was soft, not rough, it wasn't too dry, it wasn't too wet, perfectly balanced.

The two stared at each other for a moment, frozen in time yet again. Their teacher cleared her throat, bring them back to reality.

Teirra quickly pulled away from Sora, both unknowingly wanting more, and she finished the rest of her lines with a red face.

Sora and Teirra stood nervously and stared at each other back at their seats. Namine and Riku high fived. Their friends in the room silently cheering for them.

At least they passed.

* * *

><p><strong>I think this chapter had more humor than most..eh, oh well. btw if anyone's wondering about Seifer's costume I got the idea from an old Romeo &amp; Juliet movie I watched in my Freshman year in English. Hopefully some people have seen it and can get a solid image of it.<strong>

**I love writing stuff with Vanitas though, he's just too cool! Anyway, this'll be my last update before I fly up to Utah for Thanksgiving break so read & review and Happy Early Thanksgiving!**


	13. WARNING: Recognizing Causes Trauma

**Hello people, sorry I'm a bit late with the update. Some things happened...but I don't want to get too deep into that.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter, although in my opinion it's pretty terrible, it was kinda forced just so I could get further.**

**Enough about me, on with the chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

**WARNING: Recognizing Causes Trauma**

To say that Sora and Teirra were clueless would be the understatement of the year.

Ever since the supposed "accident" that the two didn't know Riku had purposely caused during the presentation, they couldn't even glance at each other without the memory coming back in a flash. They had decided that it was a mere accident and they should just continue on with their lives like nothing happened, which irritated their friends to no end.

"Hey Teirra?" Olette said toward the girl questioningly.

"Hm?" Teirra looked up from her English homework at Olette and took a sip from her soda. "What is it?"

"Why haven't you told Sora you like him yet?"

Teirra did a spit take at the question. "W-What?" She sputtered, her face already turning a light shade of red.

"W-what makes you think I l-like Sora? We're just friends. Nope! Nothing else going on." Teirra said quickly and nervously, suddenly finding a spec on the worn tile in the MacDonald's there were at more interesting.

"Oh come on. It's obvious you two like each other, how can you be so blind?" Olette sighed, exhausted with their obliviousness.

"You're kidding right?" Teirra looked up again, not even denying the fact that she had stated. "Sora wouldn't like someone like me." Teirra smiled, a bit of sadness behind the gesture.

Olette frowned. "Don't be so negative Teirra. I mean look at yourself, how could a guy, let alone Sora, not like someone as nice and pretty as you?" Teirra shook her head nonetheless. "Well then why dn't you just confess to him and find out if he likes you or not?"

"What? I couldn't do that! It's embarrassing... even more so if he says no." Olette refused to let this go. "Nonsense, I say! You should just go for it! Let your feelings ou-"

"Well what about you and Hayner?" Teirra interrupted, Olette herself also blushed slightly.

"Well, w-what about Hayner? There's nothing between us. N-Not at all." Olette crossed her arms and turned her head just to try and prove her point. It wasn't working.

"Yeah right. Everybody knows you two like each other. And you guys have known each other longer than I have Sora, you're the one who desperately needs to confess." Teirra said, smirking as she went back to her homework.

Olette's face went red again, this time in anger She huffed and glared at the reddish-brunette.

"Oh, shut up Teirra!"

* * *

><p>"Man, you suck Sora!" Hayner shouted, running past Roxas away from the brunette angrily, startling the blonde.<p>

Roxas walked toward his twin, jerking his thumb back behind him. "Let me guess. Hayner tried to make you confess to Teirra."

"Yup."

"Fired back at him about Olette?"

"You got it."

"That's my bro." Roxas smirked.

"Yeah, he- wait a minute! How did you know I like Teirra?" Sora questioned accusingly.

Roxas waved his hand. "At least you admit to it, and it's not like I read your little secret diary when you weren't looking."

"For the last time, it's called 'Secret Stash'!" Sora glared, saying the name quicker, thinking it made it sound cooler.

"AND for the last time, you should really change that name. It's stupid. Anyway, it's written all over your face man! She's gonna find out eventually anyway." Roxas sighed, knowing Teirra would never realize it in the first place.

"You know she likes you."

"You know she doesn't." Sora muttered.

"Geez Sora, when did you become so negative? Why don't you just talk to her?" Sora glared at his twin before blushing slightly and looking away. "Yeah, well, what about you and Namine?" He said, hoping to get Roxas to back off like Hayner.

Roxas' brow raised. "You're not getting me with that one Sora. New flash! She's been my girlfriend for well over a freakin' year!" He said proudly, pounding his chest with his fist in dignity.

Sora huffed angrily and puffed his cheeks, obviously pouting. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Roxas sighed and patted his brother's shoulder. "At least think about it, okay?" He said and walked away, leaving the brunette to his thoughts.

* * *

><p>"Okay Sora. Get it together. Get it together. Damn it, why does my hair look so messy?"<p>

"Um, Sora? Your hair always looks like that. Spiky, gravity-defying bed head." Kairi said matter-of-factly, tugging at one of his spikes.

"Well gee, thanks, Kai." Sora muttered.

"No problem," She said innocently, smiling. Sora sighed. "Don't worry so much okay? You'll do great." She said, patting him on the back reassuringly. Sora smiled and finally began breathing calmly again.

The fairly large group of friends had all decided to meet in the central area of Destiny Islands, the area with more of a city look, shops and restaurants everywhere. They were currently in the large mall at the very heart of the area, taking a short break.

Teirra was off to the side talking with Fang and Axel, who had seem to have been fairly closer then they usually were. Sora ignored that fact for the time being, only finding the shorter reddish brunette's bright smile and laugh more interesting.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply, Kairi whispering words of good luck as he made his way over to Teirra. He could feel his face heating up as he was now face to face with her as she looked up at him.

"Sora?"

"Teirra, I-I uh, I mean, can I talk to you?" He leaned in toward her ear and she flinched slightly. _Why'd she do that?_ He didn't know, he ignored it for now. "Privately?" He whispered.

This time it was Teirra's turn to get nervous. She blushed slightly, her thoughts on overload. _Oh god, is he gonna tell me he knew I liked him all along and reject me? Or does he like me too? Does he like someone else? Oh no. This is not good!_

"O-Oh, right. Okay." She said, smiling nervously.

Right when the two had begun to split off from the group, Vanille suddenly came out of nowhere with her arms flailing and talking frantically and loudly about some store she really wanted everyone to go to; including Sora and Teirra.

"W-We don't want to lose everyone, right? We should, uh, probably get back to them before we're left behind." Teirra said, scratching behind her head and slowly making her way toward the departing group.

Sora sighed inwardly. _So close._ He nodded and followed her. "Yeah, let's head back." He smiled.

* * *

><p>"Ta da!"<p>

Vanille had led the group to a fairly large store, it was surrounded with witches and ghouls with the occasional ghost and tombstone, in other words, a costume shop.

"I totally forgot Halloween was just around the corner! Nice job Vanille!" Kairi clapped happily, pulling Riku inside and soon being followed by everyone else.

It was true, Halloween was mere days away, and the school was even throwing a dance to top it off.

"We have to find the perfect costumes for that dance! It'll be a cinch." Vanille smiled, making her way to the fairy princess section, everyone else scattered to find their own costumes.

Roxas and Axel were the first ones to find their costumes, just simple black cloaks, but with the hood pulled up, it looked pretty creepy since you couldn't see their faces anymore. Namine had found a short, white dress, apparently it was a witch costume, nobody argued, for it looked rather good on the blonde.

Hayner and Riku had chosen to be vampires, Hayner had already decided to wear his fangs, and they almost looked real. Hope was some sort of dark prince, Vanille decided to go with being a dark pixie or something along those lines.

Fang found some kind of knight costume, female knight, obviously, what with the revealing armor that seemed it would only cover her chest and lower... area. And Kairi found herself a short black dress with several tears and red splotches which were apparently supposed to be blood, meaning she found a kind of zombie costume.

And after much more searching Sora had found some kind of vampire costume with a pumpkin mask, pointy shoes, striped tights of some kind, basically, it was complex. While Teirra had finally decided on a witch costume that had a cobweb theme to it.

After paying for each of their costumes, the group decided to find a place to stop for lunch. With Hayner and Axel arguing over going to a Subway or an East Coast Eats.

Teirra made her way over to a distracted Sora, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"So, Sora. What were you going to talk to me about earlier?" She asked, his heart stopped momentarily for he had completely forgotten his own plan.

"Huh? O-Oh, right, that. I uh, that was... nothing! Yup. Nothing at all." Sora laughed nervously as Teirra raised a brow, suspicious of his behavior.

"Nothing? It didn't seem like nothing. Are you sure?" She pushed on, curious as to what Sora might tell her.

"Oh yeah. It's nothing at all. Nope." Sora mouth popped, eventually Teirra let it go. Sora could see Roxas shaking his head in probably the most disapproval a guy could have for his twin. Sora shot him a pleading look.

Roxas gave in to the look and loudly stated that they go to a simple deli instead, loud enough to distract Teirra from the panicking brunette.

Sora shot his twin another look mouthing "Thank you." and Roxas shook his head.

* * *

><p>"So what're you going to get Teirra?" Kairi asked, already having ordered hers and Namine's food while most of the others were still deciding.<p>

Teirra waved her hands in front of herself. "Nothing. I'm not even hungry, honest."

"Teirra." Sora warned. She sighed.

"Okay, okay, fine." Teirra walked off from the group to order, she paused, seeing something out of the corner of her eye.

Outside the restaurant and down the sidewalk she saw a swish of a black trench coat that appeared to cover most of a man's body, he paused as well. His eyes averted from his shoes and in her direction.

Teirra's eyes went wide, her face paled as Sora walked over to her.

"Teirra? Hellooo? Are you just stalling or something?" He waved a hand in her face and stopped short, finally seeing the look on her face.

Sora's words were drowned out by the overload of panicking thoughts swimming through Teirra's head. That face, that bearded face, the muscles bulging slightly from his jacket, the sinister and evil look in his dark eyes. It couldn't be... Not here. Anywhere but here.

Teirra's knees buckled and she suddenly found herself having trouble breathing, her hands clenched around her chest where her heart was as she felt it begin to beat rapidly.

"Teirra? Teirra, are you okay? Look at me! Say something!" Sora bent down to her level as the entire restaurant was now in panic at the girl's actions, Riku calling out to someone to call an ambulance.

Sora shook Teirra slightly, not wanting to make things worse as she was hyperventilating. She brought her hands to her head and clamped them around her ears and bit her lip, recalling the memories from that fateful encounter with that man. She tried her best to resist the urge to scream, nearly succeeding for a strangled noise escaped her throat as everything else went blank and she collapsed in Sora's arms.

He immediately embraced the unconscious girl, hoping to protect her from whatever caused this frightening panic, he felt light tears from her eyes drip down his shirt. He rocked back and forth, whispering calming words to Teirra even though she probably couldn't hear him.

"What the heck just happened?" Olette asked to no one in particular, just wanting an answer; any answer.

Sora shook his head. "I don't know. It was like, whatever she saw must've triggered it or something." He muttered, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Within minutes the paramedics arrived, the man with the trench coat smirked and calmly walked away. He had found his target.

All the while distant words echoed in Teirra's head. _That's him. That was actually him... He's the one..._

_The one who killed them..._

* * *

><p><em><em>**Well he had to come in some time, can't just leave them blissful and ignorant right? Right.**

**Hope you enjoyed, I'm still not sure how many chapters this story will have but I'm currently working on 19 so I need to pick up the pace.**

**Read and review.**


	14. Awakening

**I'm sorry I'm a day late and if the last chapter was confusing to anyone. If you were confused at all or still have questions after this chapter please tell me and I'll answer them the best I can.**

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts, only Teirra and the story.**

**And with that, enjoy.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

**Awakening**

After Teirra had been taken to the hospital, her friends immediately followed. They gave Lightning and Squall a call as soon as they got there, who appeared not long after Teirra was issued a room and everything else was out of the way.

The doctor said no one was allowed in until he checked on her to find out what was wrong, this worried Sora and the others even more. He had even gone into nervous pacing mode, as most people do in hospitals.

Squall walked up to the nervous brunette and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, slightly startling the boy as he tried to get him to tell him what happened. This only resulted in Sora babbling quickly and loud enough to the point where it was mere gibberish.

"Sora. You have to calm down, okay? Now, what happened?" Squall's words came out calm, yet firm. Though on the inside he might as well be babbling like Sora right now.

Sora took a deep breath and exhaled. "I... I don't know. She was just ordering her food, I think she saw something else... and, then she fell to the ground and started hyperventilating and just... collapsed." Sora took a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair.

Squall raised a brow. "She saw something?" Sora nodded. He looked to Lightning, hoping she might have an answer. She simply shook her head and shrugged, also deep in thought.

Lightning looked over to find a few of Teirra's friends pestering the doctor who just exited her room, trying to know if she'd be okay, she smiled at this. "Are we allowed to see her yet?" She asked, keeping her usual calm yet stern look about her.

The doctor nodded and began to clean his glasses. "It seems she just had a panic attack so she should be okay when she wakes up, maybe a bit disoriented but otherwise perfectly fine." He put his glasses back on and Lightning thanked him just as some of the friends and Squall entered the room. Most of them had to go home already but demanded to know what all happened as soon as everything else was cleared up.

"Is she awake yet?" Lightning asked. He shook his head. "She'll wake up today for sure, but it won't be for quite some time."

Squall looked to the rest of the friends. "If that's the case, why don't you guys head on home too? You can always see her tomorrow."

Sora shook his head. "I won't leave her. Not until I know for sure she's okay." He said, his voice quiet, yet strong.

"We want to stay for as long as we can." Namine smiled, Kairi slung an arm over her sister's shoulder.

"Yeah it's what friends do, right?" She looked to Roxas and Riku, who nodded firmly.

Squall stared at them in slight disbelief, then grinned. "You kids." He ruffled Sora's hair- the brunette's words of protest going unheard- and walked out the door.

"We'll be in the waiting room. Later!" He waved as Lightning followed him down the hall. The friends exchanged looks and eyed the doorway in which Squall once stood.

"Weird guy." Riku said, still staring at the doorway.

* * *

><p>Teirra half-opened her eyes slowly, trying to recollect what had happened. That man's face the first thing to come to mind, her eyes snapped open and she shot up from the bed, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.<p>

Her mind registered a warmth on her hand that seemed to flicker for a second, hearing a voice call out to her. Although everything was blurred and near muted, it sounded familiar. Teirra attempted to slow her breathing in order to calm down and keep her heart from beating rapidly as she could feel it through her ribcage.

The world was slowly becoming clearer, sound no longer muted as the voice next to her also becoming clearer. Teirra immediately recognized it as Sora's voice.

"-ra. Are you okay? Can you hear me?" He asked, his questions coming so quickly Teirra almost thought he was speaking another language.

"Sora?" Her voice came out hoarse, though she didn't bother to fix it. Her eyelids felt heavy, she wanted to sleep, but for some reason she felt like she had been for a long time.

"What... happened? Where am I?" Teirra asked, panicking slightly, she barely remembered what happened before she fell asleep. She still felt the warmth from her hand, finding the cause to be Sora's own hand over hers, his fingers intertwined with her own.

Teirra felt her face heat up a little, she looked back at Sora, hoping for some answers.

"You don't remember? You passed out at the mall, you had a panic attack or something and you've been out ever since. You were brought to a hospital right after you blacked out," Sora looked genuinely scared. " You've been asleep for a long time, it's past midnight already. Everyone else went home, but Lightning and Squall are outside, probably asleep by now." He chuckled, then quickly returned to his previously serious face.

" I was worried. We all were worried, and scared. You saw something that triggered it. Teirra, what did you see?" Sora gave her a look, a look that meant even if she wanted to hide anything, she couldn't. Not to that face.

Teirra groaned, running her free hand through her hair. "I...," She really didn't want to tell him. Sora looked at her expectantly, she sighed. "I... I saw him."

Sora looked puzzled, and very confused, he raised a brow. "Him? Who's 'him'?"

"The one who... " Teirra could feel herself begin to shake, she tightened her grip on Sora's hand as she tried to fight it back. Sora felt her hand, and changed his expression from confused to worried again.

"Teirra...?" He said cautiously.

"The one who... He's the one that kill-" She was cut off by another familiar brunette.

"Teirra? You're awake!" Squall said happily, the teens quickly moved their hands away from each other before he could see as he embraced Teirra in a bear hug. Weird for a cop, especially him.

Lightning came in the room and pulled Squall off of Teirra before he could suffocate her. "That's enough Squall. Teirra, are you feeling okay?" She asked and Teirra nodded.

Lightning smiled. "Good," She turned serious again as she put her hands on Teirra's shoulders. "Now, Teirra, Sora said you saw something before you passed out. What did you see?" She asked, her voice calm but firm.

Teirra flinched, averting her eyes from Lightning. "Well...," She looked to Sora, who still seemed lost and worried from before. She looked back to Lightning again, shrugging her hands off her shoulders. "I was just seeing things. I didn't sleep much last night and hadn't eaten much today, or, yesterday I guess, it was nothing at all actually." Teirra laughed nervously and scratched behind her head, putting on her emotional shell once again. And Sora could see it.

"Teirra..." He muttered, watching the girl convince her two guards that it was really simply lack of sleep and hunger induced hallucinations.

"Well, I guess I better be getting home, see you tomorrow Teirra." He turned to leave, just as he was through the door he felt a hand grab his own.

"Hang on, Sora." Teirra looked at him with pleading eyes, what was going on inside her head?

"Teirra?" Lightning stared at the girl, who nervously let go of Sora's hand. Teirra looked at the three of them, concerning eyes looking back at her.

"Um... what I mean is, it's late. It's not safe to walk alone at night, we should, uh, take him home, you know..." Sora stared at his friend, why was she acting so weird?

"Uh, well I guess that makes sense." Squall crossed his arms and stared at the brunette, making him a bit uncomfortable.

"Huh? No, it's okay, you don't have to-" Teirra gave him another pleading face, he sighed and gave up, what was with her today?

"Although wouldn't you end up waking everybody in your house when we got there?" Lightning asked Sora, who crossed his arms in thought. "Well, I guess that's true, it's usually not a good idea to wake up my parents, especially my brothers." He shuddered at the thought and threw his hands behind his head.

"Then why don't you stay with us? We have room, plus you wouldn't be waking anyone up." Squall said, smiling as he saw Teirra's face brighten a little.

"Really? You sure?" Sora was already being guided out the door and the hospital by Lightning and Squall with Teirra walking nervously next to him.

The ride home was fairly quiet, other than Squall babbling on about what kind of movie night they should have and Lightning arguing that the teens had school in the morning and should go to bed when they got there instead.

Sora kept watching Teirra, who was constantly twiddling her thumbs and looking out the window as if she thought something was following them. It was a little scary, considering every time Squall got louder she flinched.

"Teirra, are you okay?" He whispered, knowing Teirra didn't want to distract them. She turned her head to face him.

"Huh? Oh I uh...," She looked out the window again. "I'm fine, really." She replied, putting her emotional mask on again. Sora sighed and returned to his side of the back seat.

"Fine. But I'll get it out of you before the night's over." He crossed his arms, Teirra gulped nervously.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye and cast his eyes down to the floor.

_You can't hide behind that mask forever._

* * *

><p>Lightning and Squall went to bed as soon as they got home, Squall lent Sora some of his clothes for the night and Teirra left to go get changed in her room while Sora did in the bathroom next to her room.<p>

Sora came out of the bathroom, tugging on the shirt that was a little too big for him. He paused when he was in front of Teirra's room, he had to know what was going on with her. He knocked on the door, hearing a sound that sounded somewhat like a question.

"Teirra? It's me, Sora." He whispered only loud enough for her to hear. The door opened to find Teirra already changed into a red t-shirt and black shorts, his face reddened slightly. He'd only seen Teirra wear thing like dresses, jeans, slightly longer skirts, simple and not revealing stuff. Sora had never seen her wear short shorts like that, let alone seen her in her pajamas.

"What is it?" Teirra asked. Her hands slightly clutching the door out of habit, for there were marks on the door suggesting it had been done before many times,

Sora cleared his throat. "We need to talk," He put his serious expression on again and Teirra's hands seem to grip the door a bit tighter. "About what you saw. You've been acting strange ever since you woke up. And I know you lied to Lightning and Squall when you said it was just hallucinations, even if all that other stuff was true."

Teirra averted her eyes, clearly she wouldn't tell him without a little more force. He took a step forward, she took one back. "Please, Teirra. You were already going to tell me before, what's the problem with telling me now?"

"Well, I... I didn't... I don't know, fine. Sit down and I'll tell you." She sighed and sat on her bed, Sora sitting next to her, looking at her expectantly.

"Okay, the person I saw... he's the one," She looked to the ground. "The one who... killed them." Her voice cracked, Sora's mouth was agape. "He's here? How did he even get here without being spotted?"

Teirra shook her head. "I don't know, but I knew I couldn't hide forever," She looked at Sora, a sad smile and fresh tears across her face. "He found me."

Teirra froze as she was suddenly surrounded by a warmth, Sora's arms were thrown around her and they pulled her closer to the brunette.

"S-Sora? What're you-"

"I'm sorry," His grip on her tightened. "I'll help you through this any way I can."

He pulled away for a second, something neither of them wanted to do at the moment. "But... shouldn't we tell Squall and Lightning? They are guarding you for this after all." He said, Teirra's sad expression seemed to deepen, not a good sign.

She clasped her hands together in some sort of begging fashion. "No, please don't tell them!" Her voice came out in a loud whisper rather than the shout she'd rather be doing. Sora raised a brow. "Why?"

"Because if they find out he's here, they'll make me leave again. Please, I'm begging you not to tell them. I don't want to leave, I like it here, a lot." She pleaded, Sora frowned, he couldn't tell them now. She was right, they would make her leave.

"I don't want you to leave either, at all really. But what about keeping you safe, what if something happens? What if you get hurt?" That was the last thing Sora wanted, if anything happened to her, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Teirra sighed.

"I don't know, but I'll come up with something." She said. She yawned and looked at the clock to find it was almost 3 in the morning.

"Well, we'll figure something out. I promise I won't tell them. For now," Sora stood up. "Get some sleep, okay?" Just as he was about to leave, Teirra grabbed his hand.

"Wait, um..." She trailed off as Sora looked down at her.

"Teirra?"

"I... I'm scared, to be alone. Can you... uh," She paused and looked up at him. "S-Stay here? With me?" She choked out. It's true she was terrified to be alone now, but she was still nervous at the thought of asking Sora to stay with her all night.

Sora stared at her for a moment before smiling and getting back on the bed. "Sure."

"Really?" She asked in slight bewilderment.

"Of course." He smiled.

It took a minute for the two to get comfortable and as soon as the lights were turned off Teirra immediately went to sleep again. Sora smiled warmly at her.

"Good night, Teirra."

* * *

><p><strong>Herpderp, cute little romantic and kinda sorta sad moment. Yay.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please read&review. Bye!**


	15. Interrogations and Food Issues

**Alright I'm on time for a change.**

**Don't really have much to say this time around, so enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

**Interrogations and Food Issues**

Sora awoke to the bright sunlight glaring through the window and onto his face. He winced when it was directly in his eyes and looked down to clear his vision, seeing Teirra still sleeping peacefully. Her face was buried in his chest and she was curled up in a little ball.

He smiled. She really was cute when she slept, he blushed slightly and slowly climbed out of bed, hoping not to wake her.

Sora made his way to the door and opened it- but it wouldn't open all the way. He frowned, puzzled, and looked up to find Lightning staring at him, with Teirra's phone in hand.

Silence. He observed the situation and sighed.

"You... took a picture. Didn't you?" He said and Lightning nodded.

"Yup." Her mouth popped.

"Send it to everyone?"

"Of course."

"..."

"..."

"Your clothes are in the bathroom."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>"Hey, morning Sora!" Squall called happily as Sora came down the stairs. Lightning had to wake up Teirra so only Lightning came down after him.<p>

Squall stared at the brunette, making him slightly uncomfortable under his gaze. Squall looked at the couch, finding the blankets still folded. "Didn't you sleep on the couch last night?" Squall asked, puzzled.

"W-Well uh... you see-" Sora was cut off by Lightning.

"He fell asleep in the bathroom."

Sora made a noise that sounded somewhat like "Guh!" He looked at Lightning to find a face that said 'If Squall ever found out he'd kill you.' And he gulped nervously, looking away and making his way into the kitchen.

Soon enough Teirra came downstairs as well. Sora was making himself some eggs while Teirra merely satisfied herself with a piece of toast. Lightning and Squall had already left to get dressed themselves.

"... Sora?" She said, nearly inaudible and Sora looked up from the pan. "Yes?"

Teirra put her toast down and lightly gripped the edge of the counter, her eyes downcast. "You won't, you know, tell them. Right?"

Sora frowned. He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten about last night, that man- the killer- had finally found her and was searching for her at this very second.

He smiled as Teirra looked up at him. He picked up her toast, which puzzled her as he waved it around. "I will if you keep eating like this."

Her brows furrowed. "Huh?"

"It's no wonder getting you to eat at school hasn't helped much. You barely even eat a good breakfast." He poked her stomach, she flinched at the tickling feeling. "And it's probably the same with dinner too, isn't it?"

Teirra stared as he began to break up the eggs into two portions and put them on two plates. She looked down and fiddled with her thumbs. "Well I..." She trailed off. Sora was right, as usual.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here." He offered Teirra a plate of eggs and grinned. "Enjoy."

Teirra smiled back at him and took the plate. "Thanks." She had begun eating when Sora remembered something else.

"Oh, by the way. While we were sleeping... well, Lightning took a picture with your phone and uh... sent it to everyone."

Teirra choked on her food.

* * *

><p>"Teirra! I'm glad you're better and all, but what the hell is this?" Teirra covered her ears and flinched at Kairi's overly loud voice as she flashed the picture Lightning managed to send to everyone.<p>

"Wait a minute Kairi! It's not what you think!" Sora said, waving his arms around in a defensive manner.

Riku and Axel flung their arms around each of Sora's shoulders, smirking at the now incredibly uncomfortable brunette.

"Dude, nice one." Riku whispered and Axel gave Sora a thumbs up. "Yeah, how'd you, ya know, do it?" If Axel's smirk could get any bigger it would've just then.

Sora growled and balled his hands into fists.

They never knew what hit them.

-X-

"Ow! That hurts!" Axel complained as the nurse dabbed the cotton swab on his cheek again.

"You know you kinda had it coming when you two said that stuff to Sora." Namine said, giggling as Riku and Axel winced at the evil cotton swab again.

"Besides, you know Sora doesn't even have the guts to confess to Teirra, let alone sleep with her." The nurse flinched, Roxas grinned as Sora's face went red. "Why did we get the message from Teirra anyway?" He asked.

"Lightning did it." Sora sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The others present burst out laughing.

"Nice! Way to go Lightning!" Roxas said in between laughs. "S-Shut up!" Sora whined, eventually they did stop. Though mostly reduced to giggles.

"But why were you in bed with her in first place?" Namine questioned, the nurse had already left so it was just them now.

Sora stared at Namine, deep in thought. _Uh-oh. Telling them the truth would mean __**telling them the truth. **__Teirra wouldn't want me telling them._

He inwardly panicked, unsure of what to say. "Well, I...," His hands tightened around the one leg he had crossed, the other merely hanging over the chair. "It's... complicated." He muttered.

They all shared a glance and frown, confused. "What does that mean?" Riku asked, the only one daring enough to ask in the first place.

"I can't say." Sora sighed, he got up and opened the door. "I made a promise." He muttered.

The only sound that could then be heard was the closing of the door.

* * *

><p>"Spill it Teirra! Why were you two together in that picture?" Olette had never been so demanding before. The rest of the friends were currently in line to get their lunch.<p>

Teirra frowned, she knew she couldn't tell them the truth. She turned back to counter to gather her wanted foods. "It was 2 o'clock in the morning Olette, we were already half asleep." She merely waved it off.

Olette gave her an odd look, the others attempting to act like the subject never came up and continued down the line.

Somewhere along the way back to their table, Teirra managed to slip away without being noticed. She was afraid to be alone, but it didn't matter at school really, besides if she stayed she'd just get questioned by everyone constantly.

She was spacing out so much she almost didn't realize she had bumped into someone. "I'm sorry, I-" She looked up to find it was Sora staring down at her, confused. "Sora? Why aren't you with everyone else?" She asked, the two began walking side by side.

"Probably the same reason as you." He chuckled, smiling at her. Of course, she smiled back.

Sora's stomach growling ruined the slight moment they were having. Teirra laughed. "Here," She tossed him an apple ad he caught it effortlessly. "At least I remembered to stop by the lunch line." She said.

"Always come prepared."

* * *

><p>Sora and Teirra ate in the back of the school- the least expected place for their friends to find them-cracking jokes and laughing. Basically actually having fun for a change.<p>

"You know, we can't hide from them forever. Half of them sit all around us next period." Sora groaned, that definitely struck a nervous nerve.

"Yeah, I know. But I don't know what else to do." He pouted, throwing his apple core into the nearest trashcan.

Sora eyed Teirra, realizing her hands were empty. "Before you ran into me, you weren't just going to eat that one apple were you?" He asked.

"Uh... about that, on the way here I saw another kid who didn't have lunch so I, um... gave it to him?" She squeaked, fiddling with her fingers nervously. She knew Sora would get mad at her for doing it.

He sighed and pulled her closer to him, startling the reddish-brunette. "You're too nice." He said.

"Um... I-I'm sorry...?" She stuttered. Sora flicked her forehead and she flinched. "It's okay," He said, Teirra felt her face heat up at how close he was now. "I just think you should put yourself first for once, that's all." Sora smiled.

Teirra nodded slowly and the bell rang, rain had began to fall and the two rushed to the shelter known as the hallway, fearing what their friends would say when they got there.

Teirra crossed her arms in thought. _How do we always get to the topic of food?_

* * *

><p>It was raining hard by the time school ended, and for some reason everyone ceased interrogating Sora and Teirra about what happened. Maybe they just finally decided enough was enough.<p>

All the friends were gathered outside, all but four. "Where are Sora, Roxas, Axel and Riku?" Kairi asked, looking around, yet not finding her beloved silver-haired boyfriend or the others.

"Huh? Oh, they're busy." Hayner said, flipping through messages on his phone.

"Ook, did they say what they were busy with?" Olette asked the blonde, who turned his head away quickly.

"It's nothing much. Just some school work." Hope pointed out rather nervously, Olette and a few of the others had their hands on their hips in annoyance. But they left it at that and dropped the subject.

"Well, without all the guys aren't here, why don't we go do something!" Namine said, smiling. Hayner and Hope raised a brow. "What about us?" Hayner frowned.

"Oh please, since when do you two count as real men?" Fang waved them off and the other girls giggled slightly when Hayner seemed to choke on air for a moment.

"Hey! That's not-"

"Anyway, let's go!" Vanille said happily, pulling her sister into the rain and covering each other's heads with their books. All the others did the same.

"We can't tell them, but should we go?" Hope asked, looking to a fuming Hayner who seemed to glaring at nothing.

He let out some frustrated growls before kicking the air and turning around. "Screw this. I'm going home to play Gears of War 3, wanna come?"

Hope sighed. "Sure."

* * *

><p>"Alright, they're gone." Sora whispered, smirking.<p>

"If they're gone, then you don't have to whisper anymore. Moron." Riku deadpanned. He folded his arms behind his head.

"Shut up. It's more fun this way." Sora whispered again, this time glaring at Riku. Axel smacked the brunette over the head.

"Get serious already Sora. We've got a job to do." He said. Roxas snorted. "You're one to talk about 'getting serious' Axel. I don't think you've ever been serious your whole life."

"Anyway," Axel said loudly, mainly toward Roxas. "Everything we need is already at my place. Let's go already."

"Awesome!" Sora cheered. "Let's get this going!"

"Through whispering already?" Riku complained sacrastically. "Of course. Who whispers anyway." Riku's eye twitched. "Right. Whatever."

The four began to make their way to Axel's house to work on whatever it was they were planning.

"Hey Sora?" Said boy turned to his brother in question. "When are you going to finally confess to Teirra?" He asked, Sora sighed.

"I can't. Not yet anyway."

_Teirra already has enough to worry about as it is. She doesn't need me weighing her down too._

* * *

><p><strong>Yes I know it seems late with the Gears of War thing but it had just come out when I wrote this chapter.<strong>

__**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, read & review!**


	16. Let The Dance Begin

**I know that Christmas is my next update..well, date, but I'm going to be out of town with my cousin and chances are I won't be able to use their computer. Again.**

**So since I'll have to do so after Christmas, Merry Early Christmas readers!**

**Oh and for the bit with the note coming up so you can tell who's who in case it isn't obvious:**

**Hello - Sora**

**_Hello - Teirra_  
><strong>

**On with the chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

**Let the Dance Begin**

"The guys are gone again? Geez that's the fifth time in a row!" Fang raged, crossing her arms.

"Hey! We're here! We're guys!" Hayner growled while pointing at Hope.

Teirra waved them off. "We've already been over this. You two don't count."

Lunch was half over by now, and Sora, Roxas, Riku and Axel are still yet to show up. In their classes they wouldn't say anything. Though Axel and Roxas were often caught talking to their music teacher about _something_.

The Halloween dance was also coming up as well, in fact, it was tonight. Everyone had their costumes and were ready the second it would start.

"Why can't we just tie them up or something?" Kairi earned some stares. "Even if we did do that, those guys are pretty tight-lipped, they won't say a thing." Namine sighed.

"They haven't even hinted anyone?" Olette asked, looking toward several of the girls.

"Riku won't." Kairi huffed.

"Not Roxas." Namine frowned.

"Not Sora either." Teirra rested her head in her palm.

"Not even Axel," Fang growled. "And that idiot loves secrets and gossip!"

"All they're saying is that we'll find out at the dance tonight." Vanille said, she had many failed attempts at trying to get Hope and Hayner to fess up. Threats, tickling, even chick flicks didn't work, these two were tougher than they thought.

"Either way, we'll just have to wait and find out I guess." Teirra sighed.

"Stupid Sora even put me in charge of making you eat at lunch while he's gone." Kairi crossed her arms and Teirra frowned, mumbling under her breath.

The bell rang, everyone headed their somewhat separate directions.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Tell me!<strong>_

**You know I won't. ;)**

_**Tell me! DX**_

**You're just mad cuz I put Kairi in charge of making you eat.**

_**...shut up.**_

**Ha.**

Teirra scribbled more angry faces on the note she and Sora were passing back and forth while their teacher gave his lecture for the day. It wasn't even really a lecture, just talking pointlessly about notes and the Halloween dance tonight.

Teirra stop scribbling and shoved the note at Sora.

_**I'll remember this next time I won't tell you something. ( -_-):o _o)**_

Sora stared at the note and smiled, holding back laughter as he replied and passed it back.

**Yeah, yeah I can get anything out of you. What the hell is that face?**

_**What? You can't tell? I'm pinching you literary.**_

**Don't you mean 'literally'?**

_**It's written, literature, literary.**_

**..Riight.**

_**You're just jealous I can make cool faces and you can't.**_

**...shut up.**

The teacher sat down and stopped talking, meaning they had the rest of class to do whatever.

Sora sat in the desk in front of Teirra and sat in it backwards to face her. He folded his arms on his desk and rested his head on them. "So how are things with you? You know... with hiding from him." Sora chose his words cautiously, Teirra frowned and bowed her head. "I can't know for sure if he knows exactly where I am, but he hasn't tried anything yet so... I guess it's okay so far." She mumbled.

Sora watched Teirra with sad eyes, while he himself couldn't stand seeing her sad. Whenever they were in class together, or rather, even though they were in class together, she was always jumpy and nervous at the slightest change in air or sound she came across if she couldn't see the cause right away.

Sora supposed it was only natural, but he still worried constantly about the girl he loved. Wait, loved? He liked her sure, but 'loved' was taking another step entirely.

"Sora?" Teirra's voice shook Sora from his thoughts. He dismissed his past thoughts and smiled.

"Nothing, sorry. It'll be okay," He put his hand on her shoulder. "The dance tonight will make you feel better. I promise."

Teirra stared at Sora, more so his smile. It was more of a knowing grin, as though it could predict the future.

The bell rang and Sora quickly stood and headed for the door.

"See ya later tonight Teirra!" He grinned from ear to ear and dashed out the door.

Teirra stood and stared blankly for a while before tucking her hair behind her ear and smiling.

* * *

><p>Teirra observed herself- more so her costume- in the mirror. It wasn't exactly a scary costume, despite it being a Cobweb Witch costume. It looked scarier in the picture on the bag, but when Teirra put it on, it was like it got ten times less scary, she frowned at this.<p>

After all, what was the point in Halloween if you didn't have a scary costume?

"You look fine to me." Lightning said, seemingly reading Teirra's mind.

"So is Sora coming to get you?" She asked, Teirra shook her head.

"Kairi and a few others are. Sora said he was busy with other stuff that he wouldn't tell me." Teirra shrugged and crossed her arms.

Lightning smirked. "You know you wanted Sora to come, you like him," Teirra blushed slightly. "Why haven't you told him? It'll save you the trouble of hiding it you know."

"Well why haven't you told Squall you like him?"

You could hear a pin drop. Lightning's face was as bright as her pink hair, she could get nervous just like everybody else obviously.

Before more words could be exchanged, the door bell rang, Lightning quickly left to answer the door while Teirra put on her shoes. She felt pretty victorious right now, it was rare to see the officer get nervous over anything, even when Teirra was in the hospital Lightning still managed to hide most of her fear.

From the first day Teirra met Lightning and Squall, even though she was completely blind to anything around her at the time, she could tell the two were already good friends. perhaps more. Obviously they weren't together, but there was, without a doubt, something forming between the two officers, something they apparently couldn't see.

"Hey Teirra! Your costume looks awesome!" Kairi said happily as she came over and hugged the reddish-brunette.

"Thanks, yours too." Kairi's zombie-ish costume really did make her look dead to be honest, it was a little unnerving for Teirra but she had to get over that, it was Halloween after all.

Teirra said her goodbyes to Lightning and Squall before shutting the door and the friends were now on their way.

"Roxas and the others said they'd meet us at the dance, they're probably already there." Namine said, everyone including herself still wondering what the boys were actually up to. Either way, they'd find out when they got there.

While the others were conversing, Teirra tried her best to stay in the middle of the group while constantly looking over her shoulder. Walking at night already made her nervous, now that the Misaki family's killer was wandering around it only made things worse.

Teirra sighed to calm herself down, a job Sora was a professional at.

Teirra inwardly slapped herself in the face and shook her head. _No, I can't rely on him so much. It's not fair!_

"Teirra? What's on your mind?"

Teirra was shaken from her thoughts, looking up at a slightly concerned looking Fang with her hand on Teirra's shoulder.

"Huh? Oh! It's nothing, just nervous that's all. It's my first time going to a high school dance." Teirra smiled and lightly waved Fang's arm off. She hated lying, especially to her friends. But she couldn't tell them what was going on, it'd just drag them down with her into her own troubles.

She mentally paused, thinking for a moment. If that was true... and Sora knows, doesn't that mean...

He might be in danger too?

"We're here!" Kairi squealed as she quickly approached the gym doors, swinging them open with Namine and the group entered without hesitation.

The gym was completely dark, minus the purple and blue lights being scattered about the building and music was booming and echoing throughout the building as well. There were cutouts of ghosts and ghouls at every corner and on the ceiling and so on. The walls-not counting the windows-were covered in black paper and fake pumpkins were hanging from and in the basketball hoops.

Not to mention it was packed, students of all creatures wandered here and there, by the entrance exit, the snack table, the stage-

Wait, stage? That wasn't there before.

"What's with the stage?" Teirra asked above the pounding music, aimed at Olette.

"You don't know? There's a band playing tonight." She smiled, Teirra raised a brow. "Who is it?"

"Beats me, they've never played before. But they offered so the principal agreed right away."

Suddenly the gym went quiet, just as an intercom was turned on, making the students cover their ears at the terrible sound it made.

"Good evening students! I hope you're all enjoying the dance." The principal was the one at the mic, the students cheered as a response.

"Good to hear. Now we have a treat for you all tonight. We have a band playing on this very stage! Not only that, but they're some of our own students here at Destiny High! Now please welcome, Deep Dive!

At that moment, the principal backed away, handing the mic to who apparently was the lead singer. The friends gaped, minus Hayner and Hope. Obviously they knew all along.

"Sora?" Teirra gasped, the brunette was indeed on the stage, an electric guitar in his hands. Roxas and Riku were on either side of him, guitars in their own hands as well, Riku being the base and Axel was in back behind a drum set. A cheshire grin on his face.

Sora brought the microphone closer to his mouth and punched his fist in the air.

"Let's get his party started people!"

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone saw that coming.<strong>

**Sorry that I keep making Lightning and Squall OOC, I can't help myself. Yay.**

**Anyway, read&review, and I hope you all have a good Christmas, or Hannakuh(I hope I spelled that right), or whatever you celebrate.**

**Bye!**


	17. A Musical Trap

**Alright, the holidays are over and I just got home less than an hour ago. I hope everyone had a good Christmas or whatever else you may celebrate.**

**Now then, for the lyrics here it may get a little confusing for some people so:**

_hello : Sora(then Roxas later)_

**hello : Sora**

_hello : Teirra_

_**hello : Sora and Teirra**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

**A Musical Trap**

The students cheered as Axel began to strike the drums, signifying a song was about to begin.

"Yeah! Go Riku, go!" Kairi cheered, already over the fact that the boys had been hiding from them all week.

Teirra stared at the stage, more so at Sora, who had begun to play his guitar along with Riku and Roxas. How long have they been planning this? Why didn't they tell the girls what they were doing?

Needless to say Sora and the others were indeed talented in the instrument department. It seemed to take little to no effort to create the tune. It sounded vaguely familiar as well.

Teirra snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a heavenly yet familiar voice.

_Woke up in London yesterday_

_Found myself in the city near Piccadilly_

_Don't really know how I got here_

_I got some pictures on my phone_

Sora sang beautifully, the voice almost didn't sound like his own it was so perfect. _And he thinks I have a good voice? _Teirra laughed to herself.

_New names and numbers that I don't know_

_Addresses to places like Abbey Road_

_Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want_

_We're young enough to say_

"Oh I love this song!" Namine smiled. The crowd cheered even louder as the music got even louder as well. Roxas stood beside Sora as they both sang even louder.

_Oh, this has gotta be the good life_

_This has gotta be the good life_

_This could really be a good life, good life_

Teirra and the others soon found themselves cheering just as loud, if not louder, then the rest of the crowd.

The rest of the song went by smoothly, to which Deep Dive was relieved. They looked to their friends to find that not only them, but the entire school was having a good time.

Sora smiled, seeing Teirra jump up and down and grinning happily was a big difference from the way she had been lately.

Roxas stepped up next to his twin and pulled the microphone toward himself, grinning when he saw Namine watching him confusedly.

"This next song is dedicated to my girlfriend! I love you Nami!" Suddenly there was a piano on stage, Axel and Riku had walked off stage and Sora manned the piano while Roxas had the mic and some kind of keyboard in front of him, probably for certain sounds in the song.

Namine's face went bright red as the song started, Roxas took a deep breath as Sora started playing.

_The stars lean down to kiss you_

_And I lie awake and miss you_

_Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere_

The gym got a little quieter as the song went on in slight awe of Roxas' voice.

_'Cause I'll dose off safe and soundly_

_But I'll miss your arms around me_

_I'll send a postcard to you dear_

_'Cause I wish you were here_

The beat began to pick up as the music got louder.

_I'll watch the night turn light blue_

_But it's not the same without you_

_Because it takes two to whisper quietly_

_The silence isn't so bad_

_'Till I look at my hands and feel sad_

_'Cause the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly_

The song carried on for a while, the cheering getting too loud to hear some of the words, though Namine kept smiling anyway. She was slowly making her way through the crowd to be closer to the stage-to Roxas.

_When violet eyes get brighter_

_And heavy wings grow brighter_

_I'll taste the sky and feel alive again_

_And I'll forget the world that I knew_

_But I swear I won't forget you_

_Oh if my voice could reach back through the past_

_I'd whisper in your ear_

_Oh darling I wish you were here_

As the music died down, the crowd cheered again, Namine ran up on stage and hugged Roxas tightly, happy tears in her eyes. "I love you too Roxie!" She cried as she kissed him passionately.

* * *

><p>The rest of the band and their instruments got back on stage a while ago, playing random songs and becoming even more popular by the minute.<p>

Riku said he would've done what Roxas did, but it'd just seem like copying at that point and he thought he was a terrible singer, which he was actually good, not terrific, but good.

Kairi had merely smiled and kissed her beloved boyfriend saying it was just fine and that she didn't want all eyes on her anyway.

Axel and Fang had even been hanging around together back stage at the time, talking, smiling and laughing, one would even think they were a couple if they didn't know them personally.

Although they definitely had something going on with each other, that's for sure.

This had all actually happened while Roxas was singing and while they all waited for the romantic moment to end.

Teirra sadly never got to talk to Sora, mainly because he was the pianist for that song but even afterwards she couldn't even reach him because he was being swarmed by quick fan girls.

At least she'd get to talk to him after the music was done and over with.

"Will Teirra Misaki please come up to the stage, there's a surprise for you." Axel said into the mic, smirking when he spotted said girl now completely and obviously scared out of her mind.

Sora over at the smirking redhead in confusion, "Axel, what the hell are you doing?"

"Hey, this wasn't my idea, it's my job to call her up and scare her." Axel laughed. He ran off stage just as Teirra came up, Roxas following after her and grabbed the mic himself.

"W-What's going on?" Teirra asked Sora, cursing herself for stuttering for the whole school must be laughing at her reactions right now for the gym had gone quiet.

Sora shrugged. Roxas cleared his throat. "Now, Teirra, are you ready?"

"Um, what for?" She asked nervously, suddenly even more confused when Roxas shoved the mic into her hands, he already had a headset to be louder anyways.

"For your duet with Sora of course!" He smiled, Teirra nearly dropped the microphone and Sora choked on air for a moment. They could already her the pissed off fan girls and boys now.

"D-Duet? You never mentioned this!" Sora pointed accusingly at his twin, who shrugged.

"I'm mentioning it now, ok, here's your song. Now let's get started!" Roxas handed Sora and Teirra a piece of paper with the song name on it, he then ran down and came back with Axel and a guitar.

"Are they nuts? Why this? And this song?" Teirra said, making sure to pull the mic away from her mouth, Sora shrugged nervously. It was too late to back out now.

"Might as well do it, you ready?" Teirra slowly nodded as they heard the repeated beat from Roxas' guitar. Sora started.

**Do you hear me? I'm talking to you**

**Across the water across the deep blue ocean**

**Under the open sky, oh baby I'm trying**

Teirra took a deep breath, it was her turn now.

_Boy I hear you in my dreams_

_I feel your whisper across the sea_

_I keep you with me in my heart_

_You make it easier when life gets hard_

They looked at each other before going at the same time. The beat started to pick up as well.

_**Lucky I'm in love with my best friend**_

_**Lucky to have been where I have been**_

_**Lucky to be coming home again**_

_**Ooh ooh ooh**_

Some of the crowd started to cheer despite the rather quiet type of song to play at a dance, let alone the Halloween dance of all things. Still, there will always be an amount of people who'd wish they were the ones on stage singing with whoever they liked more and wanted to replace the other.

_They don't know how long __**it takes**_

_Waiting for a love __**like this**_

_Every time we say __**goodbye**_

_I wish we had one __more** kiss**_

_I'll wait for you I promise you__**, I will**_

Sora's voice picked up just after Teirra's did for each line, just like the actual song, who'd of thought they actually stay and sing the song, let alone actually sing it accurately.

_**Lucky I'm in love with my best friend**_

_**Lucky to have been where I have been**_

_**Lucky to be coming home again**_

_**Lucky we're in love in every way**_

_**Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed**_

_**Lucky to be coming home someday**_

Teirra swayed to the beat as she sang along with Sora who seemed to doing the same thing. The rest of the song went by smoothly, being that they had completely forgotten how nervous they were a minute ago.

Soon enough the song was over, the crowd cheered and Sora and Teirra bowed and smiled nervously.

That was even the last song of the night so they both got to walk off stage with the others, who were congratulating each other for a job well done, of course, Roxas' plan definitely had some effect on Sora and Teirra's views of one another.

The two had been caught closer to each other several times that night, even on the way home, though they still managed to hide a never ending blush on each other's faces away from the other.

Teirra wished them all a safe walk home, for her house was the first they reached, she closed the door. She noticed that Lightning and Squall were already asleep, she sighed, leaned against the door and slid to the ground in thought.

_I wonder, that song... Sora's expressions... does he like me too?_

* * *

><p><strong>In my opinion, this chapter didn't turn out very well but oh well.<strong>

**For those who are curious, the first song was Good Life by OneRepublic, then it was Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, and the last song is Lucky by Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Caillat**

**And of course I don't own them. anyway, hope everyone has a good New Years and I'll see you next week. Read&review please!**


	18. Pop Goes the Secret

**Yay I found time today to upload a chapter on time for a change, success! ..Sortof..oh well**

**I finished typing up this whole story the other day, so there's no worries about super late updates or anything, I already have another story in mind but I haven't started it yet though.**

**Oh and for the part with the note, it goes:**

**Hello: Sora**

**_Hello: Teirra_  
><strong>

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

**Pop Goes the Secret**

"Half a pound of tuppenny rice." A gruff voice sings wickedly, the hands of the voice's owner slightly swinging a ragdoll to the beat in the darkness.

"Half a pound of treacle." The nearby lamp is moved slightly to reveal the doll to be a familiar reddish-brunette.

"That's the way the money goes," The man smiles wickedly as he drops coins over the doll and the doll itself, he backs away and presses a switch. "Pop goes the weasel." The doll suddenly burst, thread, beads and fabric shoot across the room and the man laughs maniacally.

"Seems little Teirra had an accident." He smiled as two familiar figures step out of the shadows with disturbed grins on their faces.

"Yo boss, if you're so happy with blowing up a doll of the brat, why haven't you gone for the real thing yet?" The taller one whined, seemingly growling as he did so. He was suddenly met with a dagger just inches from his face and his boss's face even closer.

"You're really going to start with me?" He growled, his features as dark and demonic as his mind. His blade inched forward, just barely nicking his lackey's rough, bent nose. He began to panic.

"No, n-no way boss. Just a suggestion." He put his hands up in defense and sighed in relief when the dagger was pulled away from his face. His boss walked a few feet away. "Phew, for a second there I thought-" He was suddenly silenced by the same dagger being thrown directly into his skull, going three inches deep and he sank to the floor, startling his shorter companion.

"Never tell me how to do things." Their boss growled at the corpse before them, stroking his short beard as if he'd seen this a million times. He looked to the smaller man who was staying as close to the wall as possible, squirming under his firm stare.

"And you," He bent over and yanked the knife from his fallen companion, still keeping his stare on the other. As fast as lightning, the same knife was digging into the man's heart, slight gasps of pain could be heard throughout the room. "I work alone."

The gasping ceased, the knife was wrenched from the now silent man who collapsed in a heap onto the floor and the murderer shook his head, examining the knife.

"What a shame, you've gotten my knife dirty."

* * *

><p>"What? You don't know about Thanksgiving?" Kairi gasped. Teirra sighed at her behavior and ran a hand through her hair.<p>

"I know about it, I've just never celebrate it. Is it really that big a deal?" She rested her hand on her palm and yawned.

"Tired?" Riku inquired and Teirra nodded. "Yeah, but back to the subject at hand." She stared in some random direction.

"We always spend the holiday together over the short break we get, go hang out at a park or something." Hayner sighed as he sipped his soda he had acquired from the cafeteria and Olette smiled. "Yeah we usually have a picnic since all the shops and stuff are closed anyway." She said.

"I thought it was a holiday to spend with the family before they all go nuts on Black Friday." Teirra raised a brow, looking to the Hikari brothers for an answer.

"Not around here, I guess people got bored of the whole idea but still kept the tradition of closing shop all over town." Roxas shrugged, his arm draped around Namine to keep both him and his girlfriend as warm as possible.

"Ven and Vanitas even go out and do whatever it is they do with their college friends because our parents kick us out, saying they'd like to 'clean the house.'" Sora said, air quoting and saying the last part rather seductively, causing their friends to giggle at the joke.

"I can't believe they really expect you guys to believe that," Axel shook his head. "It's pretty obvious they just wanna fu-" He was interrupted by Fang's hand to his mouth.

"That's enough out of you, you perv." She said firmly and Axel pulled her hand away.

"What? I'm no perv! I just have a colorful mind, bug difference!" He defended whatever he considered his honor, Fang snorted. "They're all a pain in my eyes." She stated, leaving Axel slightly defeated.

"Anyways," Hope started loud enough for the two eldest of the friends to stop bickering, Vanille continued for him. "We should start planning who's brining what for the picnic tomorrow!" She exclaimed.

"Wait it's tomorrow?" Teirra asked to no one in particular. Sora raised a brow in confusion. "Yeah, you don't have plans do you?" He asked and she scratched the back of her head nervously.

"Well, not particularly... but-" She was interrupted by Kairi. "Perfect! We'll meet up at the park tomorrow at noon! Everybody phone in what you're bringing so there's no duplicates! Meeting adjourned!"

"It was a meeting?" Namine inquired and Riku shook his head.

"No, she just always wanted to say 'meeting adjourned.'" He smirked at his girlfriend who smiled at him. "But of course." They shared a quick kiss after a teacher literally told them to "Get a room."

The group stood as the bell rang and most went their separate ways or to whatever class they had together.

* * *

><p>The math teacher was taking waay longer than needed explaining stem and leaf plots when about half the class was off in their own little world. Sora steered his head away from the board to find Teirra's head slowly bobbing up and down, her eyes barely open.<p>

He smiled before lightly flicking her forehead and she looked up at him lazily. "Why're you so tired today," He whispered before frowning. "Are you having those nightmares again?" He whispered even quieter so as not to alarm their friends nearby.

Teirra nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "Maybe." She whispered back. If Sora's frown could get bigger, it definitely did. He got out a piece of paper and began writing and he passed it to her.

**Does it have anything to do with "him" showing up?**

Teirra frowned as well as she began writing a reply.

_**Sort of.**_

**What about those plans tomorrow?**

Teirra sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Why was Sora basically interrogating her? She ignored her thoughts, wrote a reply and folded the paper before throwing it into the nearest trash can.

Sora gawked at her actions, he had never seen her act like this before. He just concluded to himself it had to do with her being tired.

Though before he could question her further, the bell rang and everyone began heading outside, Sora was the last in the room with everyone waiting for him.

"Sora what's taking you so long?" Roxas whined.

"Sorry, go on ahead without me, I'll catch up. I just left something in my desk." Sora hated lying, especially to his brother, who shrugged and the others left. Sora looked at Teirra one last time as she left too before he grabbed his back pack and reached into the trash can.

He skimmed over until he found what Teirra had wrote and his eyes widened slightly.

_**It's my mother's birthday tomorrow.**_

* * *

><p>"Why didn't you say anything?" Sora questioned Teirra yet again.<p>

_"It never came up, besides I'll still go with you guys tomorrow if that's what you're worried about."_ He could hear her sigh on the other line.

Sora frowned. "That's not the point. I-" He paused when he heard a knock at his door, finding it to be his twin.

Roxas mouthed "We need to talk" and Sora slowly nodded, confused. He quickly said goodbye to Teirra before hanging up and he looked to his brother.

"Alright. So what's up Roxas?" Roxas raised his right hand which was holding a familiar folded white paper and Sora's eyes widened.

"This," He unfolded the paper and began reading Sora's first entry on the note. "Does it have anything to do with 'him' showing up? Sora, what the hell is going on? Who's 'him'?"

It was silent for who knows how long before Sora spoke. "Ok... first, have you shown that to anyone else?" Roxas shrugged, confused by Sora's question. "Just Namine. Why?"

Sora ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Well I promised her I wouldn't say anything, but... I guess I have no choice now," He smiled sadly, he'd have to apologize to Teirra later since it was obvious she'd get questioned soon too. He patted a spot on his bed. "You might want to sit down for this."

His brother nodded before sitting on the blue bed next to his brother.

"Here goes..."

* * *

><p>"... You did what?" Teirra's voice carried both anger and worry. Mostly anger.<p>

"I uh... told Roxas everything... ?" Sora squeaked. "Sora!" He flinched at the sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry! He found the note, talked to Namine about it, and made me tell him!" He defended himself both with his words and his hands fearing Teirra might go on the offensive.

She sighed frustratingly. "So Namine knows now too?"

"Yes, but Roxas promised that he wouldn't let her tell Kairi or anyone else," He stared down at his shoes. "I'm sorry Teirra."

Silence. That wasn't a good sign when someone was upset. Sora mentally cursed himself, though soon found himself utterly confused and warm. Teirra's arms went around Sora's chest area in an embrace, though it was short-lived when she broke away.

"It's fine, Sora. Someone was bound to find out anyway." She sighed, a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Come on, let's go. Everyone's waiting."

* * *

><p>Around over half way to the park Sora and Teirra ran into Roxas and Namine, it seemed like they had been waiting for them actually. Apparently Riku and Kairi had left earlier to get things ready. Though instead of a normal hello Teirra had been greeted by a sad-faced Roxas and teary-eyed Namine.<p>

Yup, they definitely knew everything.

Before anyone could say anything Namine hugged Teirra as tightly as she could, Sora and Roxas staying off to the side.

"I-I'm so sorry Teirra! It must b-be so s-scary and there's t-that thing and the birthday and-" At that point Namine's word had become gibberish so Teirra shushed her calmly.

"It's okay Namine, really. I'll be fine," She smiled at the now silent blonde, tears no longer forming but still present. "I shouldn't have kept from you two, from anyone really."

"So what about everyone else? Will you tell them now too?" Roxas asked, he didn't seem very pleased with the secrecy. In fact, he almost seemed threatening.

"Well... I was hoping to at least tell everyone after this mess is all cleared up, whether I get him or... he gets me." Teirra frowned. Namine looked like she was about to break out in tears again and the twins' held troubled expressions.

"But Teirra, wouldn't that just make them angry? They wouldn't want to be left in the dark for that long." Sora said, frowning. "I know that, it's just... if everyone else knows then it's bound to reach Lightning and Squall and then I'll have to leave again!" Teirra cried, tears brimming her eyes as sudden realization dawned on the other three friends.

It was true, if anyone in the force found out that "he" had found Teirra, she'd be forced to leave again. Which might even result in putting her friends in danger nonetheless.

Before anyone could press further into the matter, everyone's phones began to ring or vibrate with messages from Kairi or Riku.

_To: Teirra, Namine_

_From: Kairi_

_Hey where the heck are you guys! We're waiting for you! _

_To: Sora, Roxas_

_From: Riku_

_Get over here you morons._

They all shut their phones. "Even without their names there it's easy to tell who's who." Sora sighed, the group laughed for a short time before finally making their way to the park, Roxas and Namine further ahead, hand-in-hand.

Teirra sighed, almost inaudibly when the couple was far enough away. Sora looked down at his crush with a frown. "You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah... I just don't know what to do, I don't want to hide it. But I don't want to leave either, although...," Teirra trailed off in thought and Sora raised an eyebrow. "Although what?" He asked.

Teirra shook her head and smiled sadly at the brunette. "It's nothing, never mind."

Sora was still suspicious, but decided to drop it for now and the two continued on behind the blonde couple. Teirra kept her eyes downcast, unconsciously entwining her hand with the brunette's, who flinched at first but quickly accepted the gesture.

_When this is all over, I might be sent home..._ She looked up at Sora who was looking straight ahead and she slowly and careful removed her hand, shoving it in her pocket. Her bangs were covering her eyes as silent tears began to fall.

_It'll hurt too much... I can't love him, not at all._

* * *

><p><strong>I get the feeling there was another chapter with a note where I forgot to clarify who was who...oh well.<strong>

**After the part with the note it got pretty hard to finish up this chapter so I hope it isn't too terrible. And the Pop Goes the Weasel song at the beginning is actually the British(English?) version of it.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review and tell me what you think. See you next week.**


	19. Virtual Freak Out

**I'm soo sorry I'm like 4 days late updating this! I completely forgot to on Sunday! *is a total n00b* eeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh**

**Hopefully you all can forgive me with this new chapter. Enjoy**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

**Virtual Freak Out**

"So, Teirra went out with her friends huh?" Squall said for what seemed like the millionth time.

"For the last time Squall, yes, Teirra's out with her friends, and yes, other officers have that case the chief called about." Growled an annoyed Lightning as she angrily folded the newspaper and slammed it on the table.

The brunette flinched. "Sorry Lightning, but don't you think it sounds a little strange?" He asked slowly, knowing she was thinking the same thing but hoping she wouldn't punch him for asking so many questions. The pink-haired officer seemed to relax slightly.

"Two murders in the same place in one night, not only that but they fit the descriptions of the Misaki family's murderer's lackeys. That can't be a good sign," Her eyes widened slightly and she looked at Squall. "You don't think...,"

"We're gonna have to talk to Teirra about what she really saw that day she had the panic attack," Squall narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Well, she won't be back for a while."

Lightning folded her arms and nodded. "So while we wait... you wanna grab some lunch? Together?" Squall asked nervously, squirming under Lightning's slightly surprised constant stare. Obviously they didn't do much together that didn't involve Teirra.

A few more seconds of silent and Lighting let her arms drop, turning around to grab her coat as well as hide a smile. "Fine. But you're buying." Her smile became a smirk as she face the now surprised brunette who smiled and grabbed his own jacket and they headed out the door.

"No problem."

* * *

><p>"... And that's the whole story."<p>

Teirra sighed deeply as she finished, Roxas and Sora pushed her to tell the rest of their friends everything that Sora had to tell Roxas and, indirectly Namine. Though they were all shocked, their faces all held different emotions. Some seemed sad, while others were scared or angry, either way, they weren't pleased with Teirra hiding things from them.

The silence stretched on, making the reddish-brunette squirm under their stares. Fang was the one to break the silence, she got up and made her way to Teirra, wrestling her to stand up and she held her up by squeezing the collar of the smaller girl's shirt.

Teirra cried out in surprise and slight fear as some other of the friends stood in surprise as well.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Fang growled, yet she got no response from the frightened girl panicking in her grip. "Well?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to put anyone in danger ok?" Teirra cried out, tears brimming her eyes. Fang glared at her before sighing and setting her back down and releasing her grip on her shirt.

"I didn't want to get you all involved, if I did... and he knew about it...," Teirra stopped herself, covering her mouth with one hand, biting at the sleeve, while the other hand wiped her tears away.

"Look, I get you were scared and all, but you shouldn't go hiding things like that from your friends." Hope frowned, he seemed to be one of them who took it the calmest. Though he still wasn't pleased of course.

"And if you didn't want anyone in danger, then why did you tell Sora? You even told him right off the bat after you woke up!" Hayner growled, crossing his arms. He seemed ready to punch the reddish-brunette at any moment, but Olette kept him calm, well, calm enough not to get violent anyway.

Sora stood in front of Teirra defensively, just in case Hayner snapped. "Calm down Hayner, I made her tell me what she saw," He paused, letting his arms drop to his sides. "Don't blame her... It's not like she wanted to hide it."

Teirra stared at Sora and frowned, tears still evident on her face. She hated always hiding behind Sora, letting him fight her battles for her, she hated it. Even though, their friends seemed to settle down, Hayner and Fang looked down in shame for their behavior.

"We're sorry." They muttered loud enough for them all to hear. Teirra made her way to them and stood in front of the two. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept this from you all for so long, if I had told you right away... it wouldn't have been this bad." She smiled sadly, her eyes downcast. The two frowned, staring at the girl.

"Does Lightning or Squall know yet?" Axel asked, taking a step toward Fang and unconsciously swinging an arm around her shoulder for comfort.

"No, I haven't told them either. Though they'll figure it out sooner or later, they're not cops for nothing." Teirra said, Riku's eyebrow raised in confusion. "But wouldn't they be able to offer you better protection? I mean, they are your body guards after all." He said.

"True, but if I told them, I'd have to leave again," Her friends seemed saddened, but not entirely convinced. "Look at it this way, The only reason the rest of my family is gone is because I wasn't there when he came looking for me there. If I left now, he'd know you were my friends. And after finding I'd be gone again... he might get of you guys too." Teirra's voice cracked, but she kept herself in check.

They seemed to see her logic and nodded.

"So staying is safer then?" Kairi asked, looking toward Teirra hopefully and the reddish-brunette nodded, smiling a little.

The redhead smiled back at her. "Good," She hugged Teirra as tightly as she could, grinning as she did so and let go when she felt her friend stop breathing. "We wouldn't want to say goodbye! Now, now that this mess has been cleared up," She pulled out a picnic basket from who-knows-where, the friends grinned at her next statement. "What do you say we finally have that picnic we promised?"

* * *

><p>The rest of the day went rather smoothly, aside from apologetic glances being given and received from Teirra and occasionally Sora the rest of the picnic while having fun nevertheless. When nearing the sunset everyone began heading home, wishing a safe journey back considering the circumstances they were all now in.<p>

Eventually it was just Teirra and Sora left, Roxas decided to walk Namine home himself. And being who Sora was, he decided to do the same for Teirra.

They were about half way to her home when Sora realized Teirra was keeping at least 2 feet away from him since they started walking. He raised an eyebrow in confusion at this.

"Teirra, is everything okay?" She looked at Sora in question. "Huh? Oh um... it's nothing, I'm fine." She falsely smiled and laughed nervously. Though this time Sora seemed to fall for her act.

"Okay, if you say so." He said uncertainly. He returned his attention to the sidewalk, occasionally glancing at the girl he loves, who seemed very distraught and nervous about something. Seeing as she repeatedly brought her hands to her mouth and occasionally biting her nails, Sora frowned at this.

_What's the matter with her?_ He thought, he decided not to ask since it was obvious she wouldn't tell him even if he asked a million times.

When the two finally reached Teirra's home, they were met with a strange sight.

Squall's car had pulled up in the driveway right when they reached their block, a laughing Squall and unusually smiling Lightning exiting the car and holding hands when Lightning made her way to the other side of the car as they headed inside the house and shut the door.

The two teens stood in silence, mouths agape at what they had just seen. "Well, those two seem... chummy." Sora said distractedly looking at Teirra who nodded. "I guess so, it's almost creepy." She shuddered.

Silence stretched on before they eventually just laughed off their confusion. "I didn't think them getting together would ever happen." Teirra said, smiling at the brunette.

"Yeah, about time." Sora laughed, finding himself staring at the reddish-brunette who was doing the same, both in their own little world.

Sora slowly inched closer to Teirra's own incoming face, their eyes closed for the moment. Their mouths steadily inching closer as well.

Teirra stopped for a moment, opening her eyes she realized what was happening and panicked, making a noise between a gasp and a shriek. Sora snapped out of his trance at the noise and stared at the troubled reddish-brunette before blushing and quickly stepping back nervously.

"Uhm...," He started uncertainly, it seemed like Teirra was going to accept his attempt to kiss her a second ago, why did she reject it now? He scratched his neck in embarrassment as the silence stretched on.

"I-I'm sorry," Teirra muttered loud enough for Sora to hear. "I uh... Lightning's calling me, yeah. I gotta go, see you later Sora." She didn't give time for Sora to react let alone answer as she started running for her open front door and slammed it shut, leaving a dazed and confused Sora on the sidewalk.

He frowned at the door, looking to the place where Teirra once stood and scratched his chin in thought. _There's definitely something wrong here._

Just a moment ago Sora realized that Teirra might just like him, just as he loved her. But the way she panicked seemed to be warning sign of some kind. She could just be nervous, but that wouldn't explain the fear Teirra had in her eyes.

Sora stared at the ground, finding his shoes more interesting according to those who passed by the brunette on the sidewalk.

He considered talking to her again to see what was wrong, but decided against it seeing as she's had to divulge so much already in just one day.

Sora shrugged and turned heading back to his own home for the day.

* * *

><p>Teirra fast-walked past the new happy couple that were her bodyguards and into her room, shutting her door and leaning against the white painted wood and slid down to the ground. She looked up at the ceiling with her hands clutching her chest where she could practically feel her heart aiming to beat fast enough out of her ribcage.<p>

Teirra pulled her legs to her chest, staring at her knees with tears stinging her eyes. She began rocking herself back and forth. "No, no no no. Sora... he can't like me, he's not supposed to," Teirra muttered to herself and holding her head in her hands, shaking her head as she cried.

Meanwhile downstairs, Lightning and Squall ceased they're joking around when they heard Teirra's door shut. "Teirra's home." Lightning muttered, though it sounded more like a question considering they didn't even see her when she came in.

"Did you hear her come in?" Squall asked, looking curiously at Lightning who shook her head. "Did you?" He shook his head as well. The two bodyguards sat in silence for a moment, as if remembering something. "Wasn't there something we needed to ask her about?" Lightning asked, mostly to herself.

Strange, her memory usually sharp as a tack, but her lunch date with Squall seemed to throw her off completely.

"Damn it," She frowned. Squall rubbed his chin absentmindedly, also trying to remember.

Squall finally gave up and sighed in defeat, shrugging as he did so. "It'll come back to us tomorrow." He smiled. He swung an arm around Lightning, bringing their faces close as he leaned in for a kiss, though Lightning defensive reflexes unfortunately kicked in for her leg moved on its own, striking the brunette in a particularly sensitive area.

Squall squeaked as he slowly slid to the ground on his knees holding onto his sensitive area hoping to cease the pain, Lightning gasped slightly and knelt down beside him. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to." She frowned and Squall looked at her. "Too soon?" He squeaked.

"Too soon." Lightning nodded.

* * *

><p>"Yo Sora, what's the matter with you?" Ventus asked his little brunette brother from their comfortable seats on the couch.<p>

He noticed that since Sora had gotten home he seemed distracted by something, or someone. The brunette looked up from his 3DS and closed it. "Huh? Oh, um...," He paused, looking at his handheld and at his older brother. "It's nothing. Just something with Teirra, that's all." He sighed, though it was a simple statement, it seemed to get his blonde brother's attention.

"Really? What happened? She reject you?" Sora's face twisted into one of embarrassment and sadness. "What? No! Well, sort of, I don't know," He sighed exasperatedly. Ventus urged his younger brother to tell him more. "Well, I walked her home after the picnic and I tried kissing her and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Did I hear that right?," Vanitas suddenly appeared out of nowhere with his "literature" in his hands on some strangely obscure page. "My little-no, OUR little brother actually kissed someone today? When did you finally decide to grow a pair and go for it?" Vanitas smirked, ruffling his younger look-a-like's hair and earning a loud noise of protest in return.

"Quit that Vanitas! Or do you want me to find an incinerator to throw your 'literature' into like a companion cube?" Sora growled, His black-haired clone seemed to get the message and stopped. "Besides, I didn't actually kiss her, I tried to. And at first she was going to also but at the last second she completely flipped out and backed away from me." Sora sighed, fixing his hair throughout his explanation, his two older brothers exchanged looks before looking at their brother again.

"Well maybe she was afraid of being poked in the eye by those spikes of yours." Vanitas smirked, poking one of Sora's brunette spikes only to get his hand slapped away. "What, and you don't have that problem? We have the same hairstyle!" Sora pointed accusingly at his brother who shrugged. "Please, you know my girlfriend wouldn't care if she got hair-stabbed as long as she got some of this." He gestured to his body and did a pelvic thrust as he smirked his sinister smirk once again and his twin sighed.

"Sometimes I don't get how Aqua can even put up with you and that attitude of yours." Ventus shook his head.

"Please, what about you and Terra? I bet you guys get it on all the time." Vanitas winked at his angered twin. "For the last time I'm not gay!"

The two older brothers started running around the house as Ventus began chasing his twin with every threat possible to get rid of Vantias' magazine stash. Leaving Sora on the couch, he watched his older brothers and sweatdropped, _Oh well, Vani had it coming anyway._

Sora sighed and returned to his 3DS and began button mashing as a boss battle came up. His own twin suddenly plopped on the couch next to him and looked over Sora's shoulder. "Hey Sora. What're you playing?" Roxas asked.

"Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, it's awesome," Sora replied, never taking his eyes off the screen for the virtual battle was too intense. "I'll hand it to you when I'm done. I'm almost through with it anyway." Sora continued and his twin nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, okay. So what was that stuff you were talking to Tweedle Dee and Teedle Dum about?" Roxas asked again, looking over his own shoulder at said brothers who were still running with death threats.

Sora paused for a moment, hesitant to answer, which resulted in his little virtual Keybearer character to perish at the hands of whatever boss he was fighting. Even so, Sora didn't seem to notice, troubling his twin slightly. "Sora?" Roxas said uncertainly.

"I uh... I tried to kiss Teirra, when we reached her house." Sora muttered, a blush already creeping up to his cheeks that he didn't dare let their older brothers see.

Roxas jaw dropped. "Seriously? Nice, wait... what do you mean tried? She didn't reject you did she?" Roxas frowned, he as well as everyone else in their group of friends except for Sora and Teirra knew the two liked each other.

Sora shook his head. "No, well yes... I mean, not exactly." He said uncertainly. Roxas raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It seemed like she wanted to at first, I mean, she was leaning in too. But at the last second it seemed like a thought struck her or something and she freaked out and backed off saying Lightning was calling her and she went inside," Sora paused for a second. "Oh, by the way, Lightning and Squall are a couple now too."

Roxas smirked at the last bit of information. "About time. Good for them," Roxas' face returned to serious mode. "But with Teirra, maybe she's just afraid to take the next step. I mean, she lost everyone she loved once, maybe she's afraid that's the kind of target the murderer's after. Either that or something else is bothering her."

Roxas was a lot more observant of people than one would think. He's usually able to piece things together just by a person's body language, in Teirra's case, it was just obvious enough that he didn't need to see her to be sure.

"Maybe, what if she doesn't like me though?" Sora frowned, worried for his friend and crush, but also sad for himself. Roxas shook his head.

"Trust me on this, she's gotta like you, what girl wouldn't? Other than mine of course." Roxas winked and smiled at the thought of his beloved girlfriend, Namine, who was feeling a lot better about their friend's situation by the end of the day.

Sora laughed and embraced his twin in a half-man-hug, considering they were still sitting on the couch.

"Thanks bro. I gotta keep trying, not immediately. But I will." Sora smiled before getting up and saying he'd head on to bed.

As soon as his twin went up the stair case, Roxas snatched the 3DS from the pillow and smirked. "Time to kick some virtual ass."

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><p><strong>Yay for Portal references and making Lightning and Squall COMPLETELY OOC! I always feel so bad for the companion cubes when they get incinerated in Portal 1. *cries*<strong>

**Agh I can't wait for Dream Drop Distance to come out...in like a YEAR or something! Noo! I don't even have a 3DS! FFffffffuuuuuuu-**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, next time I WILL be on time, I promise. read & review!**


	20. Nightmares

**So I decided to update a day early because I'll be pretty busy tomorrow for most of the day so I figured, why not, yknow?**

**Anyway, on with the chapter; enjoy.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

**Nightmares**

"Morning Teirra." Squall smiled at the reddish-brunette who just made her way down the stairs. She looked up at the brunette with a dazed look in her eye.

"Morning." She replied almost robotically. Squall frowned. "What's with you? Trouble sleeping?" He asked and Teirra nodded as she put a frozen waffle in the toaster. "You could say that." She sighed.

Teirra decided to change the subject, hoping Squall wouldn't ask what she meant. "So, you and Lightning seem awful chummy now. What happened there? Go on a date?" Teirra smirked as Squall's face held a tint of red to his cheeks.

"Oh right. Well uh, we weren't busy so... I asked her to lunch and well, it became a full-on date I guess." He rubbed his chin as he recalled the events with a goofy grin on his face and Teirra giggled slightly. "Well, that's a way to summarize it, leaving out all the good parts. Come on what happened?" She pressed on.

"This happened like a week ago. Why are you asking about it now?" Squall raised an eyebrow, he knew Teirra noticed before, maybe she was just slow with questions. "What's that matter now. It's the present and I wanna know what happened. Is that so wrong?" She asked innocently.

"Okay, okay fine. Well it went like..."

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><p><strong>One week before<strong>

The two bodyguards were still off duty for Teirra was with her friends and other officers were investigating the murders from the night before. Although Lightning had agreed to go on a lunch date with Squall, it was getting rather difficult to figure out where to go.

"So you have zero ideas on where to go?" Squall sighed as he walked side by side with Lightning.

"Pretty much, it doesn't matter to me." Lightning shrugged and smirked to herself when Squall looked away, obviously just trying to make it harder for the brunette.

Squall ran a hand through his hair, this was definitely not going how he'd hoped it would. He'd treat her to what she asked for, she'd think it was sweet of him and give him a nice, romantic kiss and then-

"Squall? You're not having weird thoughts again are you?" Lightning narrowed her eyes at the now embarrassed Squall.

"Huh? Um, n-no way, what're you talking about?" He nervously laughed it off and spotted a familiar Italian restaurant.

"How about there for lunch?" He pointed at the restaurant and Lightning followed his gaze to the building.

"Sure." She nodded.

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><p>"Okay wait, does ANYTHING good happen in this story or is it just small talk?" Teirra interrupted. Squall sighed and ran a hand through his hair.<p>

"It only is for a while okay? Wait a minute, don't you have school today?" He raised an eyebrow at the reddish-brunette who stared in shock into space, dropping the bit of waffle she had left.

"Crap I'm gonna be late!," She ran to the door, putting on her shoes as she grabbed her back pack and turned the door knob. "Tell me the rest later. Bye!"

The door slammed and the house was quiet once again. Squall chuckled slightly at Teirra's actions.

_It's amazing how forgetful she can be._

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><p>Teirra made it to school just as the bell rang, almost missing Kairi, Roxas and Axel on their way to their first period. Teirra gasped slightly when spotted them.<p>

"Hey guys! Wait up!" She cried. The three turned to face the reddish-brunette just as she reached them, gasping for breath with her hands on her knees from running the whole way there from home.

"Hey Teirra! We almost thought you'd be absent today." Axel said, grinning at Teirra when she regained her composure and caught her breath. The four started walking again as Teirra responded. "Yeah sorry, Squall was telling me a story and I lost track of time." She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head.

"Ooo what story was it?" Kairi asked eagerly, she loved stories of every kind.

Teirra shrugged. "Just his and Lightning's date last week while we were out having that… rather disastrous picnic." Teirra shuddered at the memory, she noticed that was no response and she looked to her three friends who's mouths were agape. Roxas not as much since he already kind of knew.

"What?" She questioned, squirming slightly under their stares. Axel was the first one to speak. "Squall and Lightning… dating?" He gasped, thinking it was nearly impossible for those two- especially Lightning- to even consider the idea of letting their guard down enough to date anyone at all.

"Yeah, they're actually a couple now, apparently the date went well. You mean I didn't tell you?" Teirra asked the three friends. "Sora told me, sort of. He didn't know they actually went on a date but he was saying they seemed awfully happy together." Roxas noted, Kairi started shaking the blonde furiously.

"Why didn't you tell me? You're dating my sister, you're supped to tell her and she's supposed to tell me!" She yelled, fake crying as she nearly killed the blonde with her shaking.

"I did tell her," Roxas cried out as he pulled the redhead off of him and he opened the door to the music room. "Maybe she just forgot again or something. You know how Namine can be." He sighed. They all walked in and sat at their appropriate seats.

"Hm, true. Anyway, did Squall say how it went? How romantic it was?" Kairi looked to Teirra as she clasped her hands together and sighing dreamily with a goofy smile on her face.

Teirra giggled slightly. "Not really. From what he told me it was just a bunch of small talk because they didn't know where to go for lunch," Teirra sighed, resting her chin in her palm. "He didn't finish telling me yet though or else I'd have been late." She laughed nervously.

The bell rang and their unique music teacher took his usual stance at the front of the room. He pointed to a long list of words and phrases on the board and told all students to write it all in their notes. Teirra sighed and pulled out her notebook.

_This is going to be a long day._

* * *

><p>Teirra shook her head for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She felt her vision blurring every now and then and her head was pounding with the worst headache ever. For some reason the winter weather always did this to her, as for why, she wasn't sure.<p>

Since she was now in chemistry, Sora was sitting next to her, which was something they both- mostly Teirra- dreaded at the moment. Sora looked at her friend and crush with worried eyes. "Are you okay Teirra? You don't look so good." He frowned.

Teirra looked at the brunette lazily. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just a headache really." She laughed nervously. Sora sighed, obviously not convinced.

He put his hand on the reddish-brunette's forehead, feeling for a fever and Teirra felt her cheeks heat slightly. Unfortunately it wasn't because she might be sick. She mentally cursed herself for blushing over something so small.

Sora noticed her reaction and smiled a little, quickly returning to his serious mode, he frowned as he removed his hand. "You do feel a little warm. Maybe you should head over to the nurse's office." He suggested, worried about his friend's well-being.

Teirra shook her head, this time not to clear her vision. "No, I'll be okay."

Sora sighed. "Fine, but if you seem any worse during lunch, I'm taking you there myself." He warned.

Teirra gulped and nodded nervously. When Sora turned back to his class work she let herself relax now that she wasn't in his line of vision.

Speaking of vision... Teirra groaned inwardly as hers began to get blurry again. She lay her head on the table, unaware of Sora's concerned but amused stare. The cold, hard surface felt nice against her warm cheeks, she sighed contently.

Teirra's eyelids began to get heavier and heavier as she felt the darkness of sleep begin overtake her and cloud her visual of the staring brunette even more, soon enough everything went black.

* * *

><p>Sora poked Teirra's warm cheek repeatedly, hoping to possibly make the reddish-brunette stir and awaken. No success though, she was basically out cold.<p>

Sora sighed, slightly in amusement, but also in worry for his friend. Maybe he could get her to let him take her to the nurse's office; if he begged her like he usually does when he wants Teirra to do something for him anyway.

Something had been… off about her ever since that Thanksgiving morning- no- ever since he tried to kiss her. Sora blushed slightly at the memory but fought it back immediately. Ever since then, Teirra seemed almost scared to be near the brunette. Almost as if she was afraid to let something happen.

He figured it was what Roxas suggested and that she was just nervous or afraid something would happen to him like her family, but she seemed more alarmed than something like that would bring about in a person.

Sora shook his head out of his thoughts as the bell rang. He put his things back in his backpack and shook the still sleeping reddish-brunette slightly.

"Teirra? Hey, Teirra. Wake up." He muttered close to her ear, but she didn't awaken just yet. At a closer glance Sora could see that her eyes were tightly shut, like she was having a nightmare.

I thought she said she wasn't having nightmares anymore. Sora frowned, but he was interrupted from his thoughts by a mutter. "N… No. Sora…," Teirra breathed, her eyes were shut even tighter now and she bit her lip. "L... Love." She muttered.

Sora stared at the girl in slight shock. "Teirra…?"

* * *

><p>"No! Stop it! You can't take Sora away!" Teirra screamed; in her dream of course. She was reaching out from where she was trapped in a sort of jail cell made from giant pulsating roots that were slowly moving around the girl, in the direction of where her arm was reaching a certain spiky haired brunette who was unconscious and being held up by old chains connecting to something in the darkness.<p>

Sora hung there in the air, near unconsciousness and possibly death if their captor wanted it so. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, blood seeping out of each and every gash on his once perfect skin and soaking his clothes. There was a booming voice to reply to the fear-stricken girl.

"And why would I do that? You have no idea how pleasing it is," There was a sound of a gloved hand clenching, suddenly the chains around Sora slowly began to tighten their grip around his wrists, ankles, waist and neck. The brunette cried out in alarm and pain. "To hear the screams." The voice cackled.

"Please! Leave him alone!," Teirra cried from her hanging root prison, she let her arm drop and she had her eyes downcast as tears ran down her cheeks. "Please don't take him away." She sobbed.

"Give me one reason not to kill this boy." Teirra could practically feel the smirk the disembodied voice was obviously making. She looked up into the empty space and at Sora. "B-because... I," She felt her words leave her.

"You what?" The voice growled.

"Because I...," Her breath hitched.

"Say it!" It shouted threateningly.

"Because I love him!" Teirra shouted back, tears still stinging her eyes.

The voice began to chuckle, which eventually turned into an uncontrollable evil laughter. Then there was a sound of fingers snapping.

"Not good enough."

The chains closed tightly and quickly, all Teirra saw was vast amounts of blood and Several of the brunettes body parts falling into the darkness below.

"No!" Teirra screamed, crying loudly as she did so.

* * *

><p>"No!" Teirra opened her eyes again only to find two familiar bright blue ones staring at her in shock.<p>

Sora lay his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. "Teirra, are you alright? You're shaking like crazy. You look like you saw a ghost." He said, worry etched deep into his voice and wiped tears from the reddish-brunette's eyes. He was right, Teirra could feel herself shaking in fear. She looked down at her trembling hands and at Sora again.

"S-Sora? You... I-I thought you," She started shakily. She could feel her tears coming back again, only now for happiness that the one she loved was not truly gone forever.

"Teirra-" Sora froze as Teirra embraced him tightly as if he was about to disappear. The reddish-brunette was still shaking, sobbing silently with her face buried in the crook of his neck. "I-I thought you... t-that you...," Teirra couldn't bring herself to continue.

She felt Sora's arms wrap around her, pulling her close to himself in comfort. "It's okay Teirra. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." Teirra could feel him smiling softly in her hair.

After a few more minutes Teirra's crying ceased and the two let go of each other. Teirra seemed to have some trouble standing up for too long so Sora grabbed their bags and draped her arm over his shoulders to help her around and holding that hand in his own.

As the two started walking Teirra realized the hallways seemed rather empty. "Sora," She began, getting the brunette's attention despite her voice being near inaudible. "How long was I out for?" She asked.

Sora sighed. "Well lunch is already almost over, and considering the time during class when you fell asleep, I'm guessing around an hour." Sora said, smiling softly at Teirra. She frowned.

"Sorry. You at least ate though right?" She asked, hoping Sora didn't skip lunch just because he couldn't get her to wake up. Thankfully, he nodded, Teirra sighed in relief.

"Worried?" He laughed, Teirra nodded embarrassingly. "No worries. I brought lunch from home today anyway," He paused now that they work outside in the courtyard and let Teirra sit on one of the benches. "But just because you slept through most of it doesn't mean you get to skip out again."

Teirra rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Sorry." She muttered, why was she apologizing all the time now? Her thoughts escaped her when a loud growling erupted from her stomach, making the reddish-brunette blush slightly as Sora laughed.

"Told you so. Here," He tossed Teirra a sandwich in a plastic bag which she almost didn't catch. She looked at Sora questioningly. "I had a feeling you weren't going to eat today so I made a little extra." He chuckled, Teirra nodded nervously as she took a bite of the sandwich.

"It's really good. Thanks." She smiled weakly at the brunette who grinned in return. "Good. After you finish I'm taking you to the nurse's office though." Teirra paused. Sora noticed as always.

"I'm not letting this happen again in our 6th period too you know. Besides, you're definitely sick anyway. She could probably give you some medicine or something." Sora stated, ever since Teirra woke up in the chemistry room, Sora seemed a little- well more than a little- worried about the events that unfolded.

Teirra sighed, knowing it wasn't a good idea to argue with a stubborn guy like Sora.

Eventually she finished her sandwich, Teirra stood up, she was able to manage the walk to the nurse's office on her own now that the horrifying images hadn't plagued her vision anymore.

Teirra now sat in the chair which the nurse had offered her while she checked to see if everything was in order. Sora stayed next to the reddish-brunette seeing as the bell hadn't rung just yet and he observed the nurse using the basics to see if anything was wrong with the reddish-brunette.

She removed the balloon like object from Teirra's arm that applied pressure to check for stress and the nurse rolled herself in her chair to the front of the teens.

"Well Teirra, you do seem to be running a bit of a fever, you also seemed excessively stressed. Tell me, is everything going well in your personal life?" She asked innocently.

Teirra paused. School nurses asked things like this? She nervously turned to Sora who gave her a worried glance, should they tell her everything?

"I uh...," Teirra began uncertainly, but she was interrupted by a somewhat loud gasp from the nurse. "Oh my gosh!" She horrifyingly exclaimed, troubling the teens. "E-Excuse me?" Teirra said nervously.

"You, Sora!" The nurse pointed accusingly at said boy who raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Yes?" He asked.

"Did you impregnate this girl?"

The room fell awkwardly silent for a few moments.

"W-What?" Sora's face was beet red. "No way! I-I'm not pregnant!" Teirra stuttered, her face just as red as Sora's.

"Are you sure? You two are acting awfully suspicious." The nurse narrowed her eyes at the two panicking teens.

"Of course not! I wouldn't even think of doing that!" Sora exclaimed, his breath hitched and he instantly regretted those words for not only did he now feel bad, but scared at the glare Teirra was now giving him.

"And what does that mean?" Teirra asked dangerously as she rose from her chair to face the brunette.

Sora remained nervously silent as those chocolate eyes peered into his own blue ones. "What I'm not good enough for that?" She glared.

Sora shook his head furiously. "N-No! I mean yes, I mean- T-That's not what I mean!" Sora stuttered, fearing Teirra might just unleash her violent side.

The nurse was just standing off to the side, snickering to herself. "Hey! You started this! Help me out!" Sora cried, the nurse shook her head. "Nope," Her mouth popped. "I'm getting in her way." She pointed to Teirra and shuddered.

Teirra felt as though she wanted to say more, just to verbally bite Sora's head off, she eventually just huffed as she felt her body give in to fatigue once more and she let herself drop onto the chair beside her.

Sora got out of his fear mode and stared at his friend curiously. _She's backing off?_

Teirra let out a heavy sigh and Sora saw she leaned herself back in her chair exhaustingly, he looked to the nurse for an explanation and she sighed.

"I figured as much." She walked over to the now drained reddish-brunette who looked up at her.

"What do you mean? That was just a test?" Sora asked in disbelief. This school nurse was definitely different from the rest. The nurse nodded proudly.

"That's not fair." Teirra said, frowning. Her anger seemed to diminish completely. Sora knelt beside Teirra and eyed her cautiously.

"Teirra? You okay?" He asked, Teirra seemed to be glaring at him still, but he couldn't tell. Teirra sighed. "Forget it, I give up." Sora couldn't help but worry about his friend. "What's wrong with her?" He asked, frowning himself.

"Well, her fever obviously has something to do with it, but that seems mostly caused by stress, has she been stressed about anything at home? I'm serious now." The nurse asked, Sora stared from the nurse to Teirra and back to the nurse again.

"Well, yeah, but it's more of a... family matter, in a way." He muttered, he didn't want to give out the whole truth.

The nurse seemed convinced with what information she received. "Okay then, now, if Teirra would just move to one of the beds maybe she could get some rest." She suggested, Teirra stood unsteadily, having to be aided by Sora again. Only this time to be quicker he just picked her up bridal style and lay her on one of the beds.

Before Teirra could react at all she drifted off to sleep once again. Sora smiled at her sleeping state, she really was adorable as she slept. Teirra looked almost like a doll that had just been put aside for the time being.

"You love her, don't you?"

Sora looked to find the nurse grinning ear to ear at the brunette. "W-what gave you that idea?" He asked nervously. The nurse pointed to a mirror on the wall that was already facing the boy, finding that his cheeks had a red tint to them.

"And I don't need facial expressions to know love when I see it." She laughed as Sora made stuttering sounds.

"Anyway, considering Teirra's state as it is- which is concerning mind you- I'm going to prescribe some sleeping pills for her so she can get the sleep she needs. If anything else happens in the mean time I want you to be by her side, and you should talk to her guardians for those times you can't be there."

Sora nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I got it."

"Oh, and by the way, the bell rang for 6th period about 20 minutes ago."

Sora growled slightly, making the nurse laugh slightly and he shrugged. "Eh, what's another absence right?," He paused. "Would it be okay if I... you know stayed here? With Teirra?" He asked hesitantly. He was afraid Teirra would wake up screaming again and he wanted to be there so Teirra wouldn't panic even more.

She smiled at the brunette's nervous behavior.

"No problem lover boy."

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, that's all you'll be getting on Squall and Lightning's date, I wasn't feeling creative enough so...just use your imagination.<strong>

**Sorry if this chapter was kinda slow or boring, I felt kind of forced to get through this one.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll see you next Sunday. Read&review please!**


	21. Secret Santa

**This chapter was difficult to write for some reason...eh, oh well. it's here now, hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21<strong>

**Secret Santa**

Teirra awoke in a cold sweat, she had the same dream as before but she managed not to panic a second time. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve and looked around, she was in the nurse's office.

Teirra raised an eyebrow in confusion, some of the lights were off, she was alone.

Panicking slightly she quickly sat up from the bed she lay on, instantly regretting it for her head was pounding.

Teirra groaned slightly, massaging her temples hoping to ease the pain.

"Good to see you're finally awake."

Teirra jumped at the voice, though it sounded familiar. She turned to find Sora sitting in a chair close to the bed, as for how she didn't notice him sooner; it was a mystery. He was smiling at Teirra, obviously waiting for her to speak.

"Sora? Why are you here?" Teirra asked, Sora chuckled slightly. "I've been keeping an eye on you of course. I was afraid you'd had the same dream or something and panic again." He explained.

Teirra looked down at her hands that were clutching the bed sheets that covered herself. "Well I did have it again... but," She frowned and looked at Sora. "You didn't have to stay here for so long."

"No no, it's okay. I don't mind at all," Sora looked to the side as he rubbed his neck nervously. "You're really cute when you sleep." He mumbled.

"What was that? I didn't hear you." Sora cleared his throat and faced the reddish-brunette. "It's nothing, so are you ready to go?" Sora changed the subject, which angered Teirra slightly, but she would like to get back to Lightning and Squall... Wait.

"Do Lightning and Squall know where I am?" Teirra asked nervously, getting out of bed and putting her shoes back on.

"Don't worry, I called them after school was out while you were still asleep." Sora waved his hand in a "no worries" manner.

Teirra raised an eyebrow. "After school... what time is it?" She asked, heading out the door with Sora in tow.

"Let's see," Sora took out his phone and touched the screen. "Around 6 o'clock." He stated, sliding his phone back in his pocket.

He looked up to find Teirra glaring at him up ahead. "What?" He frowned.

"You didn't have to stay that long just for me, you could've even just woke me up." Teirra sighed.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Teirra shot Sora a look and he laughed nervously. "Sorry, but I didn't because the nurse said you should get as much rest as possible. Oh, by the way, she's prescribing these sleeping pills for you too." He handed her the prescription and walked out the main doors to the school.

"Sleeping pills? Ugh, great." Teirra pocketed the paper and made her way to Sora's side.

"Also, Kairi and the others stopped by after class and said you should go Christmas shopping with us this weekend." Sora smiled as Teirra nodded.

"Sounds good to me."She shrugged.

The friends now found themselves in a pharmacy. Teirra, who had merely been following Sora, was slightly confused. "What're we doing here?" She asked.

Sora rolled his eyes. "We're getting those pills you need right now," Teirra pulled out the prescription from her pocket. "The sooner you get more sleep the better." He sighed, pulling the prescription out of Teirra's hand and walking up to the counter to retrieve the medicine.

Teirra's hands gripped her back pack straps tightly as she looked down, finding her shoes more interesting. Sora's done so many things for her but she hasn't done anything for him. He seemed especially annoyed today too.

_Maybe I can make up for it at Christmas..._ Teirra thought, sighing heavily.

She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder and shook herself out of her thoughts. "Teirra, is something wrong?" Sora asked, Teirra shook her head and cracked a small smile.

"I'm fine. Just tired that's all." She lied, the two friends exited the pharmacy.

"Here's your medicine by the way. Just take two with water every time you go to bed and you should be fine." Sora read the instructions on the side and gave the bottle to Teirra who pocketed it in her backpack.

"Thanks." Teirra sighed. She hated taking medicine, even if it was tasteless it was still annoying.

Eventually the two reached Teirra's home, Sora walked Teirra to the door.

"So um... we're here." Sora started, for some reason there was an awkward silence.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Teirra replied, she looked up at the brunette, it appeared memories of the week before came flooding back to them both.

Sora cleared his throat as he began stepping back to turning toward his own home. "Alright so... goodnight, take those pills and I'll see you tomorrow at the mall for Christmas shopping." Sora paused and stared running. "Bye!"

Teirra stared at the spot the brunette once stood, puzzled yet also amused at Sora's behavior.

She sighed and opened her door, surprised to find the lights were all on but she couldn't find anyone in the living room or kitchen like she normally would.

"Lightning? Squall? Are you guys here?" Teirra called. She set her things down and stepped into the hallway to find the light in Squall's room on under his closed door. Teirra raised an eyebrow in slight confusion, she heard voices from the inside and recognized them immediately as Lightning and Squall's voices.

Teirra put her ear against the door to listen in on the two bodyguards. Only instead of hearing them just having a conversation, it sounded more like sounds than words. She could even the sounds of the stressed bed springs being pressed repeatedly.

Teirra gasped silently, immediately pulling herself away from the door. Her face was beet red and she placed her hands over her mouth, feeling both excitement and embarrassment. Excitement and shock because the two had already taken the next step in a relationship; Lightning seemed like someone who'd save herself for marriage though. But it was still sweet that they trusted each other enough.

Teirra although felt embarrassment for almost opening the door and having to see things she probably wouldn't be able to un-see. She quickly but silently made her way upstairs to her room and shut the door.

She let out a deep sigh of relief that they didn't hear her come home, that'd be awkward for sure.

Forgetting the sexual relations the two officers were having downstairs for a moment, she took the sleeping pills Sora got for her out of her pocket. Somehow it still felt warm from the brunette's touch. She frowned and held it to her chest.

_He's too kind, I have to make all this up to him at Christmas or I won't be able to at all._ Teirra sighed. She grabbed a water bottle from her dresser and took out two pills from the container and downed them with the water following.

She sighed and lied on her bed, staring at the ceiling as sleep quickly began to overcome her.

Life can be so unfair.

* * *

><p>"Alright men! And women. What're we here for?" Axel shouted to the friends as he stood on an awkwardly shaped statue in front of the mall.<p>

"Christmas shopping!" Fang yelled back, she herself hated Christmas shopping, although somehow Axel seemed to be able to get her hyped up about it.

"What're we here for?" He screamed even louder, raising his fist in the air and getting strange stares from random passersby.

"FUCKING CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!" Everyone shouted, raising their fists as well with Hayner louder than the rest.

"Mission commence!" Kairi cried out as she charged inside dragging Riku along with her. Axel hopped down from the strange statue and followed the couple with Fang and the others in tow.

Roxas looked back at the statue as they walked with a puzzled expression. Namine noticed his concern. "Everything okay Roxie?" She asked.

"Yeah it's just... did anyone notice that that statue looked like a giant di-" He started rather loudly but was cut off when Sora covered his mouth.

"Yes Roxas! It DOES look like a dinosaur!" He laughed loudly and his brother gave him a death glare.

Roxas pulled Sora's hand away. "What the hell was that for?" He growled, Namine having to hold him back slightly. Sora pointed to the reason and Roxas turned to see at least ten toddlers giving him a strange look, obviously they wanted to know what he would've really said.

"Oh." Roxas sweatdropped and chuckled in embarrassment. "Anyway, now that we've done our random outburst for the day," Fang continued. "Let's get some shopping done."

"True, but first," Kairi started, pulling out a hat from who-knows-where. "It'd be too pricey for all of us to buy something for each other, so I figured we could one of those Secret Santa-things." She smiled before passing the hat around. "I already wrote everybody's names in so we just have to pick now."

Riku smiled at his girlfriend and threw his arm around her waist. "Good idea Kai. This'll make it much easier." Kairi giggled as he kissed her cheek.

The friends began to pull out the papers from the hat, passing it to whoever was closest to them. When it reached Teirra she realized there was only one name left, she pulled it out and unfolded the paper and smiled. It read Sora.

_Looks like I'll be repaying Sora at Christmas after all. _She thought.

Sora frowned slightly at the name he drew. His read Namine, he sighed. It wasn't that he didn't want to get Namine anything, he was just hoping to get Teirra more.

His twin peered over his shoulder at the paper in the brunette's hand and smirked. "Hey bro, wanna switch?" He said as he held out his own paper to Sora.

Sora raised a brow and looked at the paper, it read Teirra. Sora perked up at this but then frowned. "Are we even allowed to?"

Roxas shrugged. "Who cares. But I know you want Teirra," he switched his own paper with Sora's. "And you know I want Namine." He smirked again.

"You gonna do something special for her?" Sora smiled at the thought and Roxas grinned. "You bet! I'm takin' her on the best date of her life. Of course, I still have to find a gift for her either way." He shrugged.

Namine and the other girls were already out of earshot so they had nothing to worry about now.

"So what're you gonna do for Teirra?" Roxas asked as he got in his twin's face and Sora's cheeks seem to heat up in embarrassment.

He cleared his throat and turned away from the blonde. "Well I have to find a present, that's for sure. But also," He gulped nervously. "I was planning on confessing to her, telling her how I really feel, you know?"

Roxas grinned and threw his arm around Sora shoulders, startling the brunette. "Well congrats on finally growing a pair Sora! That's the best Christmas AND New Years for any girl, easy!" He said rather loudly.

Sora quickly shushed him as they started getting strange stares again. "Roxas, keep it down. It's not big enough a deal for you to announce it to all of Destiny Islands." He grumbled.

Roxas chuckled and apologetically bowed his head. "Sorry Sora. Anyway I'm going to look for a gift for Namine, think you can find one for your future girl?" He smirked at Sora's red cheeks.

"Just shut up and get outta here!" Sora shouted as he fought the blush on his cheeks and stomped away from his laughing twin.

* * *

><p>"What would he like...?" Teirra said to herself, looking in every store window she came across, but still to no avail. She sighed heavily.<p>

"What's wrong Teirra?" Vanille asked. "Having trouble finding a gift?" Most of the girls had already finished their shopping. Fang had found a set of special lighters, try guessing who those are for. Olette bought some kind of box, it could be anything considering what could be put into a box and she felt like teasing and not showing it to anyone.

Kairi got a black blindfold, as for what she was planning on doing with it, well everyone was afraid to ask. Namine bought a box of crayons, and considering the possible choices, it was either Teirra or Hayner that she picked out of the hat. Teirra didn't know for sure though.

And for some reason, Vanille got boxing gloves, when asked why she decided on that she just hinted at it when Fang wasn't around. It was pretty obvious at that point who it was for.

"Yeah, I have no clue what I should get." Teirra had her hand around the heart on her necklace, moving it up and down on its slowly rusting chain nervously. It had been a good two hours and she still didn't know what to get Sora.

Teirra became distracted from Vanille's random suggestions when saw something gleaming out of the corner of her eye. Curiously she turned and headed to the window with the object and gasped silently.

"It's perfect," She grinned, Kairi peeked over her shoulder at the object. "Wow, that looks awesome! You should totally get that as the gift!" She grinned.

Teirra nodded and breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the building to purchase Sora's present. She pulled out her wallet and walked out with a box and a smile on her face.

_I hope he'll like it..._

* * *

><p><strong>Y<strong>**ay for random SquallxLightning stuff! As for the Secret Santa stuff, well...eh, I won't say anything about it yet, next time.**

**Hope you enjoyed this nightmare of a chapter, and it only gets more intense from here! Read & review and I'll see you next week.**


	22. Confrontation

**Don't have much to say here today...aww.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22<strong>

**Confrontation**

After everyone found their gifts for their Secret Santa the group met up at a cafe on the outside of the mall. It'd been a long day so everyone was either exhausted or relaxing in their chairs with a warm cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

Teirra checked her phone and realized she had almost reached the time Lightning had designated for her to be home by. She sighed and stood from her seat. "Sorry guys, I gotta go. Lightning wants me home soon." She grabbed Sora's present and made for the door.

"Whoa wait a minute Teirra. Isn't it kinda dangerous for you out there? I'll walk you home." Sora said as he stood from his seat as well but Teirra stopped him.

"No it's fine. I'll be okay," She smiled, Sora didn't seem convinced. "How about I call you when I get home so you guys won't have to worry. That good enough?"

Sora stared intently at Teirra for a few moments before he finally sighed, realizing she wouldn't accept anything else. "Fine, but call me as soon as you walk through the door. Got it?" Teirra nodded and said her goodbyes to everyone and left out of the cafe.

Sora plopped down into his seat again, sipping his hot chocolate with an annoyed expression.

"You okay Sora?" Riku asked his concerned friend. Sora huffed in annoyance. "I'm just worried, you know? That guy could make his move any time and now she's out there alone." He growled.

Riku frowned and got into a thinking pose. "What if you follow her? She's far enough away to not know you're there," Sora stared at his silver-haired friend with an unreadable expression. "Just a suggestion." Riku folded his arms behind and leaned back in his seat. Sora looked out the window to find several other people walking by with another walking much faster than the rest of the crowd.

Before anyone could question it Sora jumped out of his chair with Teirra's present in hand and ran out the door and slowed to a fast walk when he reached the sidewalk.

Riku grinned and shifted his position and swung an arm over Kairi's shoulder. "I love it when he freaks out."

* * *

><p>"Maybe I should've let Sora walk me home after all." Teirra muttered as she jumped from another random noise she heard around her. It almost felt like someone was watching her.<p>

She froze when she heard heavy footsteps a ways away from herself. Daring herself to turn she looked over her shoulder to find a figure dressed in a long black trench coat with a sickening evil grin plastered on his face.

Terrified, Teirra turned and ran as fast and far away as she could, clutching the box in her hand. She kept running on and on, looking over her shoulder as she did so and she instantly regretted it.

The dark man was a mere few feet away from her, the grin on his face somehow even wider than before. Teirra screamed as he got closer but was silenced when his fist collided with her head, causing her to trip and fall as unconsciousness fought to take her over. The last thing she heard was a sickening laugh before she blacked out.

* * *

><p>"That's the way the money goes..."<p>

Teirra awoke and looked through blurry eyes at her new surroundings when she heard a rough voice singing a familiar nursery rhyme.

"Pop goes the weasel." It continued. Teirra's head was pounding, she went to massage her temples and realized she couldn't. Something was restricting her hand and she panicked.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." The voice purred. Teirra jerked her head to the side to see the man who had knocked her unconscious. She frowned. "Where am I?" She could feel the fear in her voice.

Now that Teirra could see again she finally saw what kind of area she was in. She was chained to the wall and it was dark, so that meant the sun had already gone down for it was still setting when she was awake before. The walls were covered in stained rose windows that were broken in several places.

From where she was chained she could see they were in the back of the building, there was an altar with some sort of statue merged with the wall behind the altar. Based on the decomposing wooden pews that were broken in several places this was the old abandoned church Teirra always saw on her way home.

"I'm sure you know what this is," The man said. "And I'm also sure you know who I am." He grinned and stepped toward Teirra and stopped when the moonlight hit his face. Teirra gasped in fear.

He had fierce green eyes that could be considered the color of acid. His dark, unbrushed hair fanned out in natural curls and stopped just past his chin with a goatee to match. His skin was oily from never being washed and there were thick layers of dirt on his face and under his fingernails.

"I-It's you..." She breathed. His green eyes stared at her with amusement and he cackled loudly. "Glad to see you remember your family's killer. I must say that I'm honored." He grinned and bowed.

He stood normally again and approached the terrified reddish-brunette. "You look just as beautiful as you did the day I murdered your parents." He cooed, caressing her cheek in his rough hand. Teirra grimaced at the touch and bit his hand as hard as she could.

He cried out in pain, pulled his hand away and slapped her in the face with his other hand. Hot tears burned Teirra's eyes almost as much as the mark she knew was already there from the swift contact.

"If you know what's good for you, you won't be doing that again." The man growled, Teirra looked up to find he had an axe in his hand. She screamed as he swung it toward her and shut her eyes tightly.

Moments passed, Teirra realized there wasn't any blood and opened her eyes when felt herself drop and fall on her butt. She winced from the impact and saw the man standing over her with a grin on his face.

"Y-You're letting me go?" She said shakily, staring at him through her tears. The man laughed again and dropped his axe to the floor.

"Of course not," He said between his laughing. Teirra frowned. "I just want to make this more enjoyable." He smirked as he made his way to a table he had set up with several kinds of weapons on it. Teirra shakily stood up and attempted to escape out the door.

She pulled the handles to find it wouldn't budge. Panicking, she started shaking the handles and kicking the doors themselves but to no avail.

"No use trying to escape," The man called out, not taking his eyes off his table of gadgets as he thought about which he should use. "I locked the doors. The windows are too high for you to reach too." He said, Teirra ran and hid behind one of the many pews, being careful not to sit in a cobweb.

He finally walked away from his table when he chose a jagged dagger, no doubt that would hurt much more than a normal one. Teirra flinched at every step he took toward her.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this." he purred, raising his dagger in the air ready to stab Teirra as fast as he could. Teirra screamed when it started to come down to her. The man froze when they heard the sound of something being broken apart, quickly.

"Get away from her!" A voice familiar to Teirra boomed. She opened her eyes to find Sora glaring at the man standing over her.

"Sora?" Teirra said shakily, her voice almost inaudible. Sora looked to Teirra, his eyes still fierce. "Teirra, come over here." He growled.

Without a second thought Teirra jumped and ran toward the brunette, yelping when the man pulled her back by the collar of her shirt and held the dagger to her throat.

"Not so fast boy," The man frowned. "You really think I'd let you ruin everything I've worked so hard for?" His voice made Teirra wince, it was like his voice was a dog whistle and she was the dog it was affecting.

"If you know what's good for you you'll let her go right now!" Sora yelled, the man only laughed arrogantly. Sora cried out in frustration and made to run over and snatch Teirra himself but the man backed up quickly.

"Oh no you don't, not unless you want her to get _ahead_, in life." He cackled at his awful pun as he pressed the blade closer to Teirra's neck, drawing a thin line of blood from the small cut and she flinched.

Sora's breath hitched as he froze in his tracks. He cursed under his breath for feeling so useless in a time of crisis.

"What do you want from Teirra anyway? You've already killed everyone in her whole family, why are you doing this?" Sora growled. Maybe if he could stall him he could figure out a way to get Teirra out of this mess.

The man chuckled. "You're quite the motor mouth aren't you?" He said, grinning at Sora's scowl. Teirra looked from the man to Sora, he was distracted by the question for now. _Maybe this is my chance._

In one swift move Teirra stomped the man's foot as hard as she could, elbowed his gut and ran and quickly hid behind Sora. Said brunette was still getting over his confusion and smiled to comfort the shaking reddish-brunette.

"You okay, Teirra?" Sora asked calmly, not taking his eyes off the still distracted murderer. Teirra nodded slowly. "I-I will be, just a little shaken up." She breathed.

The man eventually recovered from his shock and glared at the teens. "You bitch!" He growled and threw the dagger at them as hard as he could. Teirra was the first to react and pulled both her and Sora out of its path, just barely managing to graze her shoulder and leave a thin cut as it zoomed past and got stuck in the wall.

Sora looked at Teirra in surprise before turning back to the man who now had an even more sinister aura looming over him. Sora grimaced as he pulled another knife from behind him. "So," He began. "You want to know why I want this family gone so bad?"

He looked to Sora, expecting an answer apparently and the brunette nodded slowly, too afraid if he even breathed the man would let loose and kill them both.

"Me and that brat's father were once college buddies. We both had the same ambitions, the same ideas, the same goals," He growled, his finger twirling around his knife as he walked around the room, continuing his story. "Of course that could only mean we were rivals, but we still helped each other reach the next step. Eventually Ryou, her father, decided we should work together instead of against each other."

"Of course, not everything went as planned. He got ahead of me and stayed that way. He moved farther up the food chain and reached his goals, leaving me in the dust. Bastard got everything I ever wanted, a job, success, all that damn money!" He paused, and looked at Teirra with a stare that could give an elder a heart attack in an instant.

"So the only thing I can to make him pay, is to take everything he ever had away from him. His home, his wife, his entire family, his own life, and the only thing I have left that is still standing in my way... is her!"

Sora pushed Teirra away from him as the man broke into a run and charged at the teens. He quickly turned and pulled the dagger out of the wall and stopped the man in his tracks before he could get to Teirra.

"Get out of my way boy." The man said through gritted teeth, Sora was surprisingly stronger than he thought he'd be. Sora shook his head. "No way. You'll have to kill me first!" Sora growled, the man smirked.

"That can be arranged." He purred as he licked his lips hungrily.

He raised his dagger in the air, but Sora dodged just as it came down. He kept stepping back quickly as the man stepped forward the same way, swinging his dagger back and forth like a mad man. Sora would tire soon enough, but the murderer has had much more experience before this so it would take him much longer to tire.

Sora took the offensive and started to swing back, blocking all of his blows. Only the man was just as fast, if not faster, occasionally landing a few hits and leaving small gashes here and there on the brunette's body. Sora's leg jolted back when the man reached for his calf and tripped over a stray stone that had fallen from the aged ceiling.

The man saw this as his chance and slammed his dagger into Sora's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. The man grinned wickedly and made to yank the dagger out to end it, he paused when he heard a gun's safety click off.

He turned his attention from the writhing brunette to find Teirra holding a gun in her shaking hands pointed at the man. He grinned at the sight of her tears running down her cheeks in streams. "Come on, you really think you can shoot me? You can't even hold that gun steady." He laughed.

"Get away from Sora," She said shakily, ignoring his words as tears continued to run down her cheeks at the sight of the brunette in pain. "Get away from him!" She cried as she accidently pulled the trigger, the bullet just barely missed the murderer's head.

Teirra's breath hitched when he started laughing again. Sora turned is head toward Teirra and sat up, keeping the dagger that was still in his shoulder tightly gripped in his hand.

"Teirra... don't do it, don't shoot." He said through gritted teeth. Teirra turned her stare to Sora and back to the man and glared at him.

"Don't do it Teirra!" Sora cried out but was kicked back down by the man again. "I think it's time I finally silenced you, for good!" He grinned as he reached for another knife and raised it above Sora's head.

Teirra screamed as it came down and she fired another bullet at him, the knife never came down which puzzled Sora as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

The last thing he saw was Teirra dropping to the ground in tears and a police badge before everything went dark.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh boy, intense chapter eh? I hope I managed to pull off the whole violence and fighting parts ok, I'm usually not very good at those.<strong>

**Getting close to the end here too!**

**Alright, tell me what you think, read & review and I'll be seeing you next week!**


	23. Goodbye

**And so here we are with another update, this chapter's a bit on the short side, but I suppose it's necessary.**

**Although, in my opinion, this chapter wasn't written very well. But that's up to you to decide.**

**and with that I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23<strong>

**Goodbye**

Hospitals are scary places, you never know when you'll hear someone flat line or when someone might die in surgery. The smell of medicine in every room is unbearable.

And visiting someone is even more unnerving.

The only sounds that could be heard in the room was the heart monitor's constant beeping and Sora's steady breathing. Teirra sat at his bedside patiently, holding his hand in her own. Her eyes were bloodshot from her previous crying episodes ever since she shot the gun at the murderer the second time, though she had eventually stopped with help from Lightning who was now waiting in the lobby with Squall.

The dagger was taken out of Sora's shoulder safely when they arrived at the hospital, and in a matter of hours his condition was stable which relieved Teirra greatly. Though he still took quite a bit of damage so he'd have to be careful for weeks, Teirra knew that would annoy Sora to no end.

Teirra smiled weakly as she started to massage the brunette's hand by moving her thumb in circles on the back of his hand. She had stayed with Sora as soon as he was allowed visitors and hadn't slept a wink the entire night. His family had already stopped by to see him a few times, most of their time there was spent listening to Teirra apologizing up and down, again and again.

The rest of the Hikari brothers stopped her when they realized Teirra was just going to keep going on about how sorry she was, saying that it wasn't her fault and they understood the situation already and that Sora was merely aiding a friend in need. Of course their parents agreed, but they were still a bit frustrated considering adults were usually the ones to end a murderer's ways and not their children.

Teirra was shaken out of her thoughts when she heard a knock at the door. She turned to find it was a police officer, she frowned. She knew what he was planning to say.

He motioned for Teirra to come out so they could talk, Teirra slowly nodded and steadily slipped her hand out of Sora's, careful not to disturb him.

She slipped through the doorway, and shut the door and turned to the officer.

"What is it?" She asked fearfully. Knowing where this was going.

"Your transportation back to Twilight Town has been arranged and is ready for departure, we have to go Ms. Misaki." He stated robotically, Teirra frowned.

"Can I at least stay until Sora wakes up so I can say goodbye? Please, this is all I'm asking." She begged, he seemed unsure for a few moments but eventually sighed and waved his hand absentmindedly.

"Okay fine, but this is it okay? No more wasting time after this." He warned and Teirra nodded quickly and returned to Sora's room again before he could say anything else.

She faced the door as she shut it and stayed there for a moment. She sighed heavily and choked down tears that were already attempting to surface.

"Teirra?"

Teirra nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the familiar voice, she turned to find Sora staring at her with tired but alert eyes. He looked troubled.

"Sora?" She breathed, she stepped toward him, making sure she wasn't just dreaming. Teirra could already feel the warmth from his body from two feet away.

She couldn't control herself anymore and hurried to Sora's bedside and embraced him in a tight hug, careful not to touch his shoulder. Sora was surprised at first, but returned Teirra's hug nonetheless.

A few moments and the two pulled apart, Teirra sat in the chair next to Sora's bed awkwardly.

"Teirra," Sora began. "What happened? To that man I mean." He asked, afraid of what answer he would get.

"He's dead," Teirra muttered. "He dropped as soon s I shot him in the head." Her voice cracked, clearly she was still shaken up by the fact that she had actually killed someone. Sora frowned, no one should have to go through the trauma that came with killing someone. Even if it was to protect someone else.

Sora laid a hand on Teirra's shoulder, she flinched at the touch but eventually relaxed and looked at the brunette with sad eyes. "I'm sorry Teirra, if I had been stronger then this wouldn't have happened, you wouldn't have had to do that. I was weak." He muttered. Teirra shook her head and smiled sadly.

"No, it's not your fault. It was of my own free will and besides, we can't change the past, it's over now." She said.

Teirra looked out the window to the hallway for a moment to find the same policeman she had spoken to, he was just itching to get this over with. Teirra frowned.

"Sora, now that this is all over," She choked down the tears again. "I have to go back, back to Twilight Town." Sora frowned this time, he opened his mouth to object but Teirra wasn't finished.

"An officer just told me that I have go home as soon as I say goodbye. After all, Lightning and Squall are still officers too, staying with me was just their job. Now that it's over, they'll have other assignments and they can't have me holding them back anymore." Teirra couldn't bring herself to say anymore, tears were already blinding her vision and stinging her eyes.

She felt herself pulled into another tight embrace and she gasped slightly in shock. Sora's breathing was unsteady. "Teirra, you can't go. Thing's just got fixed! You just got safe again, you can't go now!" Sora cried out, Teirra could feel her shirt getting wet. Sora was actually crying.

Teirra returned his embrace just as tightly and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing heavily. "I-I'm sorry, Sora." She muttered between cries.

Before any more could be said, the door was swung open and officers flooded the room, pulling the two apart. Some held Sora back from getting out of bed while others pulled Teirra out of the room, despite their protests and shouts and struggling it was all useless.

"Sora!" Teirra cried out, reaching toward said brunette who struggled under the force of the officers holding him down. "Teirra!" He yelled back. "Let her go!" He growled, tears stinging his eyes.

The door was slammed shut and the crying reddish-brunette was dragged down the hallway. When she reached the lobby where Lightning and Squall were she was still struggling.

The two bodyguards jumped out of their seats and made their way to Teirra, the chief was already waiting near them.

"Chief, what the hell is this? She's safe now, you don't have to treat her like some animal!" Lightning growled, she now held Teirra in her own hands instead of the rough officers who she clearly didn't trust one bit.

"That's exactly the point, Ms. Farron, the sooner she's out of our hair the better. After all, watching her was just an assignment, you two have jobs to do." The chief stated, how could she be so uncaring?

"But she doesn't even have any family there anymore, where could she possibly go?" Squall growled. The chief shook her head. "Why the orphanage of course. She's still a minor, after all." She shrugged.

"This isn't fair! Teirra may still be a minor but she has every right to choose here she wants to stay!" Lightning was practically challenging the chief's patience. "As if," She frowned. "She's still a child, and it's not you two can adopt her or anything. Take her away." Teirra was pulled out of Lightning's comforting hands once more and she started struggling again.

"No! Let me go!" She yelled, the officer got tired of her so he picked her up and flung her into the truck that was scheduled to take her back to Twilight Town.

Lightning and Squall watched with sad eyes as she was driven away from the hospital. They had their eyes downcast and they frowned.

"I'm sorry, Teirra." Lightning muttered.

* * *

><p>Sora sat alone in his room, his tears had stopped for now anyway. The officers left when they felt he wouldn't try anything. He just stared at his hands with an empty, lifeless stare.<p>

He heard the door open and a familiar voice filled his ears. "Sora? Hey you're awake!" Roxas grinned at his brother, who he realized still hadn't even budged since he walked in. Roxas frowned.

"Sora? You okay?" He asked softly, sitting in the chair at Sora's bedside. The brunette slowly shook his head. "She's gone, Roxas. Teirra's gone." He muttered.

Roxas raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about? She's okay, nothing's happened to her. She probably just went to get some food or something." Roxas' reassurances went unheard. Sora shook his head again.

"No, some officers came in and... they just pulled her away. They're taking her back to Twilight Town right now." Sora's voice cracked, Roxas' eye's softened. "Oh... I'm sorry Sora. But she was safe here, why'd they take her back?" Sora shrugged, Roxas embraced his twin in a quick hug and let go.

"We're gonna miss her. I'm sorry Sora, I know you wanted to tell her," He stood and patted Sora on the back. "Well, I can tell you want some time alone, see you later Sora." He paused as he walked away for a moment and stared at something on the table next to Sora's bed.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked, Sora turned to is table curiously and spotted a small black box, it had a sticker on it that said 'To Sora'.

Roxas smiled softly before heading out the door as Sora grabbed the box as fast as he could. "I'll leave you to it then." He said as the door shut.

Sora nodded absentmindedly and slowly opened the box. Whatever was in it was covered by a folded paper that said 'Teirra' on it in her handwriting. Sora picked up the paper and gasped at what was underneath it.

It was a silver crown necklace that gleamed in the sunlight pouring in from the window, a thick chain held the crown in place. Sora knew he'd get in trouble for wearing jewelry, being a patient and all, and resisted putting it on right there.

He unfolded the paper to find it was a long letter from Teirra, she must've written it when they arrived at the hospital.

_Dear Sora,_

_ If you're reading this, then, that means I couldn't stay for our Secret Santa and had to go home. I'm sorry this all had to happen because of me. But I'm glad I could meet all of you and become such good friends with all of you. I even came to l-e you more than I thought I would anyone. I hope you like this gift, it was pretty hard to come by. A-way, I'm just rambling now. G-dbye Sora and good luck. I hope you get well s-n. Thank you f-r saving me._

_ Love, Teirra_

Some of the words were difficult to read because there were dried wet areas where Teirra no doubt cried.

The letter trembled in Sora's now shaking hands, he had his other hand on his face as he cried silently so as not to stain the letter any more than it had been.

"T-Teirra..."

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><p><strong>In Teirra's letter the spots with hyphens are the areas her tears went, so..yknow.<strong>

**I know you guys must hate me now, I'm sorry! But Before you come at me with pitchforks just wait for the final update next week.**

**Yes, you heard me, final update. This story's pretty much over. And don't worry, it won't have a depressing ending like other stories out there!**

**Read & review please, as this story's coming to a close, and I'd like for it to go out well.**

**See you in a week!**


	24. Two Months Later

**And so Savior From My Lonesome Self is finally coming to a close. It's sad really, this story made me feel so accomplished because I actually finished it. lol**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**

**And since this is the final chapter I might as well do the disclaimer one more time.**

**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, I only own Teirra Misaki, her parents, the murderer, and the story itself.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 24<strong>

**Two Months Later**

"Alright folks! It's New Years Eve here in Destiny Islands tonight!" A man yelled out, grinning from ear to ear as he spoke into the mic from his position on the stage. His blonde hair covered his ears slightly, a black beanie on his head keeping it down. He actually looked a lot like Seifer, white coat, dark pants and combat boots of some kind, only he looked at least four or five years older than Seifer himself.

"This is Snow Villiers here and boy, do we have a show for you tonight! Are you ready?" He cried out, aiming his mic toward the responding audience shouting, "We're ready!" "I can't hear you! I said, 'Are you ready?'" Snow screamed even louder and the audience replied again even louder as well.

"I said a-hey!" He cried out in surprise when a familiar white-haired teenager took the microphone out of Snow's hands and into his own.

"Anyway," Riku said warningly, glaring at the now cowering Snow. "Now that we know you're ready, we can finally start tonight's musical performance!" Riku punched his fist in the air and the crowd cheered in response.

"Now, the first group tonight is actually the one that I'm in, we've only played one other time so go easy on us," He chuckled, earning a few laughs in the crowd. "Alright, and our lead singer is still dealing with a bit of an injury of his so take it easy on him okay?"

The curtain behind him rose, revealing Axel at the drum set, Roxas and Sora with guitars. The brunette wore the crown necklace Teirra gave him and he had a headset so he didn't need the microphone the silver-haired teen was holding.

"I can take it from here, Riku." Sora said, his fingers covering the small mic in front of his mouth. Riku nodded. "And here's Deep Dive, ladies and gentleman." Riku said quickly, placing the larger microphone back on the stand.

Sora took a deep breath before speaking again. "This first song goes out to a special friend of mine. Wherever she is and whatever she's doing right now, I hope she's happy and healthy." He said, smiling softly and chuckling sadly when he heard some groans in the audience.

Roxas, Riku and Axel shared worried glances as Sora and his brother began plucking at their guitars repetitively.

_All I, waited for_

_Was a chance to, make you understand_

_And tell you these forgotten truths you never thought were real_

_And if the world should turn its back, you know, that I'm still here_

Sora's voice began to get louder as he continued, signaling it was Axel and Riku's turn to pick it up. Axel hammered on the drums loudly yet slightly slow as Sora began to sing again.

_Time won't ever steal my soul_

_We're not broken, so please come home_

Axel repeatedly tapped the crash symbols on his drums as Roxas and Riku began striking notes of their own, all the while keeping an eye on Sora's shoulder as the brunette continued plucking at his guitar steadily yet with much effort not to screw up. Sora gritted his teeth at the slight pain resurfacing but kept it in control, he took a deep breath and continued singing.

_Morning comes, and life moves on_

_And when it changed, you didn't know where you belong_

_And I still catch you when you fall through a past that steals your sleep_

_And scrawl these words upon your wall, remind you to believe_

Axel hammered his drums in the same beat once again, this time Riku didn't join in and continued the steady beat with Roxas.

_Time won't ever steal my soul_

_We're not broken, so please come home_

_If the world has, worn you down_

_I'll be waiting, so please come home_

The four now had a loud, in sync beat sounding throughout the crowd, careful not to overpower Sora's vocals. Axel keeping a steady beat with the drum and symbol in a pattern while the other teens kept together with their guitars.

_I won't let them break you down_

_And I won't hear the empty sounds,_

_I'm hopelessly pretending that I know the answer_

_Angels light the neon fires that burn so cold through your desires_

_And all you are is all I need to know_

Axel started beating his drums like a mad man with coordination while Sora and Roxas with Riku following along started carrying a heavier beat with their guitars, the beat now faster and louder.

_When the world is insane,_

_You get used to the pain_

_And you don't even know what you feel_

Sora paused for a moment to catch his breath while making sure to match the song as best he could.

_And I was like you,_

_All alone and confused_

_But you know it's not forever_

The heavy lessened just slightly, not enough for most people to notice but enough for Sora to know he was meant to continue yet again.

_Time won't ever steal my soul_

_We're not broken, so please come home_

_If the world has, worn you down_

_I'll be waiting, so please come home_

Sora and Roxas immediately stopped plucking at their guitars, letting the sound echo away on its own. Axel had stopped beating his drums completely leaving Riku to steadily end the song with his stringing of his guitar slowly getting quieter before coming to a complete stop.

The four took a deep breath, Sora rubbing his shoulder slightly, signaling the song was over. The crowd suddenly erupted in cheers, surprisingly shaking the stage slightly.

Sora halted Snow who had come back onto the stage to talk. Sora then took a deep breath and placed his hands on each side of his mouth hoping to make himself louder somehow even he already had the mic in front of his mouth.

"And Teirra! I just want to you let you that I lo-"

_CLICK_

Teirra glared at the girl next to her who had turned off the TV. "I was still watching that." She growled.

The girl flipped her hair arrogantly and turned to Teirra and smiled devilishly. "So? I wasn't, you know the rules: more than one person has to want to watch TV for it to be turned on. Besides, he was probably talking about a different 'Teirra' anyway. Don't get your hopes up." She had her hand on her hip as she turned and walked away from the reddish-brunette, swaying her hips sickeningly as she did so.

Teirra sighed heavily, Destiny Islands' New Years broadcast had been played on several channels for a month every since it was first recorded live and yet she still never got to hear what Sora was saying to her in that last minute. Someone at the orphanage always turned it off before he could talk, it wasn't fair.

Ever since Teirra had been taken back to Twilight Town two months ago, her life had just fallen apart all over again. The caretakers took her phone, saying "It's not safe to have contacts over a town away." whatever that means.

All of Teirra's old friends cut all connections with her apparently the moment they heard about her parents' murders. So nobody came to visit her either, and all the other orphans were snobby and wouldn't let Teirra anywhere near their close cliques and groups. If they ever spoke to her it was just to insult her or bring her down about Sora again.

I swear the next time one of 'em brings up Sora again I'll rip off their head and shove it up their-

Teirra was interrupted from her thoughts when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me Miss Misaki." An old voice rang.

Teirra turned to find it was one of the caretakers. She frowned slightly, she didn't like these people one bit, especially this old woman. Teirra witnessed her fury several times, if an orphan displeased her she'd either make them do impossible chores, make them sleep outside in the cold for two nights or just break out the dreaded paddle most people hadn't seen or used since the 70's as punishment.

Teirra flinched when the elderly woman bent down to her level and whispered in her ear. "There's someone here who wishes to adopt you, come with me."

Teirra was too shocked to straighten up and start moving. Only two months here and she was being adopted? People usually go for little kids but this felt odd. She looked around to find cold stares and glares being turned her way.

Either they didn't hear what the caretaker said and just hoped she was getting punished for something of they did hear and were furious that Teirra was getting to go before they did. Teirra shook off her shock and followed the woman nonetheless.

They walked through the door dividing the orphanage itself from the main desk where people filled out the paper work required for adoption. When the old woman stepped aside Teirra spotted a tall brunette man filling out the paper work with a pink-haired woman by his side. Teirra raised an eye brow.

They seem really familiar... Before Teirra could figure anything out at all she was suddenly picked up by a pair of warm hands and was spun in the air, she was turned to face her captor and was met with familiar bright blue eyes.

"Hey Teirra! I missed you!" The spiky-haired brunette grinned. Teirra's jaw dropped and gasped in shock, too shocked to say anything. Was he really here? She wasn't dreaming was she?

"S-Sora?" Her voice seemed to crack, she could feel herself on the verge of tears already. The brunette nodded happily. Teirra looked over his shoulder at the couple who had almost signed all her adoption papers who were now smiling and waving at the two teens.

"Lightning? Squall?"

"Actually it's Leon now." He stated, Teirra raised a brow in confusion and looked to Lightning for answers.

Said pink-haired woman shrugged. "He's going through an identity crisis. Don't ask." Squall-er, Leon grunted in some sort of agreement. It was then that Teirra noticed their wedding bands around their fingers.

"Wait a minute, you two are-"

"Yup. Married and your new parents." Leon grinned from ear to ear, his hand intertwined with Lightning's who was also smiling at the reddish-brunette.

Teirra turned her attention to Sora, who was staring at her with a mix of happiness, nervousness, just a whole bucket of emotions. She seemed to have lost weight again, her clothes looked big on her and she had bags under her eyes.

The two teens were shooed outside while the ex-cops finished the papers, they were enveloped in an awkward silence that seemed to stretch for hours before Teirra decided to break it.

"I-I thought I'd never see you again." Her voice cracked again. Sora frowned.

"Teirra-" He paused when Teirra suddenly embraced him as tightly as she could. "T-Teirra?" He stuttered.

"I missed you." She muttered, crying into the brunette's shirt, yet to let go of him, Sora returned her embrace and felt tears stinging his own eyes. He moved his hand to her hea and buried his face n her shoulder. "I missed you too." He said softly, his voice made chills run down Teirra's spine; in a good way.

The two finally pulled away and looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Sora blinked. "By the way Teirra, did you ever see our New Year's show?" He asked hopefully, Teirra nodded.

"Yeah, I loved it. But I always miss the last part... After your song I mean." Teirra sighed. Sora frowned. She always missed it?

He looked down to find Teirra staring at the necklace around his neck and smiling. "Oh! That reminds me," He pulled out a small box and gave it to Teirra. "This is your Secret Santa gift, I got yours too." He grinned at Teirra's slightly red face.

She opened the box with a letter and a shiny chain inside, Teirra looked up with curious eyes at the brunette. "The chain is for your necklace, I noticed the chain was getting rusty so," He undid the loose clasp on the necklace Teirra still had around her neck despite her small protests. Sora slid the heart off the chain and onto the new one and in one swift move he put it back around Teirra's neck.

"There. Perfect fit." He smiled. Teirra smiled back at him as the brunette gestured for her to read the letter.

Teirra unfolded the paper and raised an eyebrow in confusion at the short note. She turned it and flipped it, hoping to find some hidden letter and returned to the front once again.

_Dear Teirra,_

_ Look up._

_ Love, Sora_

Teirra looked up at Sora in confusion. The brunette sighed and took a deep breath before exhaling once more and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Listen, Teirra... There's something I've been meaning to tell you, for quite a while actually." He chuckled, Teirra gulped nervously.

"Actually, Sora," Teirra began, interrupting the now curious brunette. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you too." She muttered, her face already a light shade of red.

"Really?" Sora asked, his voice soft. Teirra nodded, staring into his blue orbs. "Well, you go first then, I can wait." He grinned. Teirra shook her head.

"No, you go. You said it first so go ahead." Teirra made a shoving motion for Sora to speak first.

"No, you go."

"You go."

"You go."

"You."

"You!"

"Damn it both of you just talk already!" Leon yelled from a distance, being held back by an also irritated Lightning.

"Don't mind him, we'll be in the car!" She called to the two teens who nervously watched as the pink-haired ex-officer pulled Leon away.

Sora cleared his throat, thus shaking off the awkwardness in a flash. "Well then... How about we just say it at the same time?" Teirra nodded happily. "On the count of three." He smiled.

"One..." Sora began.

"Two..." Teirra breathed.

"Three." They both muttered.

"I love you."

Teirra's breath hitched. _Did he really... say that?_

Sora stared at the reddish-brunette in shock. _She really... said that?_

"Sora," Teirra whispered, she wasn't sure what to say without sounding like an idiot. She opened her mouth to speak again but Sora put a finger to her lips, he smiled.

Teirra felt her cheeks heat up as Sora leaned in closer to her face, his cheeks were also red so he was just as nervous.

"Thank you, Teirra."

The next second, they were flying.

The space between their lips was closed, this time it wasn't an accident caused by a certain silver-haired teen friend of theirs. The feeling was enough to put the two in pure euphoria, it was perfect.

The moment seemed to last forever, neither wanting it to end any time soon. The feeling made Teirra realize that after today- after this moment even- that she'd never be alone again. At least, not voluntarily. It had a nice ring to it.

They finally pulled away for breath, but also because Leon had started honking the horn of the car. He poked his head out the window and glared at the blushing teens. "Come on already! Let's head on home." He smirked.

Sora laughed and waved him off. "Sorry Squall!" He said, grinning even when Leon corrected the brunette. He turned and held his hand out to Teirra. "You ready to go home?"

Teirra smiled and intertwined her hand with his own. "Let's go, together." Sora smiled and kissed Teirra's cheek as they headed for the car.

Sora truly has been Teirra's savior from her lonesome self.

**The End**

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><p><strong>I hope you've enjoyed this story!<strong>

**Sorry if it got confusing for some of you with the Squall-now-Leon thing, I felt it had to be done.**

**The song Sora sang was Notbroken by the Goo Goo Dolls, no that's not a typo, it's actually one word. I had a hard time choosing between that song and Souvenirs by Switchfoot, they both seemed to fit pretty well but... Notbroken won that one.**

**I actually found those songs on these AMAZING kingdom hearts AMVs(GMVs?) by someone named "Godhrz", just go on youtube and type in their name and watch their videos for both Souvenirs and Notbroken, they're super cool! Tell me which song you think would've fit better with the story, I'd love to hear what you think.**

**btw, the Notbroken vid is kinda Soku, but I think it's mostly about their friendship, and the Souvenirs vid is SoKai.**

**Anyway, I'm glad I could get some positive feedback from loyal readers during this little journey, and I have plenty other story ideas so it probably won't be long till I'm begging for reviews again.**

**Thanks so much!**


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